


Who's Asking?

by PsychoPancakeTheThird



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alex Danvers ships in the background, Buddy Cop AU?, F/F, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Humour, I don't know, Luthor and Danvers Investigating stuff!, Slow Burn, dumbasses in love, if you want angst this isn't the fic for you, there's canon stuff there but I've put a muzzle on it, what would happen if you mashed up New Adventures of Superman with Supergirl
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-14
Updated: 2018-07-23
Packaged: 2019-04-22 22:35:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 75,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14318532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PsychoPancakeTheThird/pseuds/PsychoPancakeTheThird
Summary: ‘But that’s the best part of my plan! I won’t be me, or any of the reporters from National City. I’ll be Lois Lane.’Alex slowly blinked as she let out an almighty sigh of exasperation. This was not just a terrible idea, this was the dumbest plan she had ever heard. And Alex had been there when Kara had decided that glasses and a ponytail was a great disguise. She had also been there when Kara had decided to try and convince a telepathic Martian that she had lost all of her memories and would need all her favourite foods to bring them back. But Kara’s gift for terrible plans was never more apparent than in this moment.OrThe fic where Kara and Lena are constantly doing dumb shit and the narrator seriously can't believe how oblivious Kara and Lena were in the early days of their "friendship".





	1. A Gambit, An Interview And A Partnership

_Dear Runt,_

_I know I said I’d tell you this story. But then I had a better idea. It’s all here, written down for you to read whenever you’re missing home. And I know you said you’d be fine, but Aunt Alex and Winn are already taking bets on how long it’ll be before you’re so desperately homesick you come home, and I’ve got money on you making it the full five months._

_The way they tell it now makes it sound like it was all so easy, like they met and the rest was history. But honestly, this is either the most romantic love story of the past century, or the dumbest. You would not believe how hard it was for me to gather all this information up when I was trying to get past their moony eyes to the real story. But I guess that saves you the trouble of interrogating everyone like I did._

_I’ve cut out some of the more boring bits and I’ve taken some artistic license with the bits that I could never get a straight answer on. Not that any part of their story was particularly straight…_

_Anyway, enjoy and don’t forget, the Luthor name was not always synonymous with good morals and charity._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

 

 ‘Kara that is a terrible idea.’

‘Why? No one else has gotten an interview with her. No one can get close enough.’

‘Well, firstly you aren’t a reporter Kara. If Lena Luthor won’t make time for an interview with any of National City’s most prestigious reporters, what makes you think she’ll make time for you?’ Kara’s brow set with a deep furrow, and Alex almost felt guilty for putting it there. Almost. But Kara being in the same room as Lena Luthor was not something she wanted to encourage.

‘But that’s the best part of my plan! I won’t _be_ me, or any of the reporters from National City. I’ll be Lois Lane.’ Alex slowly blinked as she let out an almighty sigh of exasperation. This was not just a terrible idea, this was the dumbest plan she had ever heard. And Alex had been there when Kara had decided that glasses and a ponytail was a great disguise. She had also been there when Kara had decided to try and convince a telepathic Martian that she had lost all of her memories and would need all her favourite foods to bring them back. But Kara’s gift for terrible plans was never more apparent than in this moment.

‘Lois Lane? Clark’s Lois Lane? Star reporter of The Daily Planet Lois Lane?’

‘Exactly, no way will she turn down The Daily Planet’s top reporter.’ Kara bounced on the balls of her feet and grinned widely at Alex.

‘Kara, I love you and you are so smart… but sometimes you say the dumbest things.’ Alex slipped past Kara and started rooting through her fridge for one of the beers she was sure she had left there on their last sister night. With her head still in the fridge she continued to mutter. ‘So, you think Lena Luthor, sister of Lex Luthor, who lived in Metropolis until two weeks ago, won’t know what Lois Lane, Metropolis’ most famous reporter and biggest Superman fan, looks like?’

‘… Well I-‘ Kara cut herself off and knotted her fingers together nervously as she looked despondently at Alex. Right at the back and bottom of the fridge Alex caught a glimpse of the brown glass she was searching for. Opening the bottle, she kicked the door closed and smiled softly.

‘Kara, I really don’t think you should spend any more time around the Luthors than you have to. You could just write a piece from her press conference, it doesn’t have to be a one on one interview. Or why don’t you just ask Cat for that promotion? You don’t need to write an article, you deserve the chance already.’

‘I know, but…’ Kara whined, and Alex took a long swig of beer. ‘I know where she’ll be tomorrow morning and I didn’t spend the last week following her to give up now.’ Alex’s mouthful of beer came spraying back out and for a split second the light shining through the windows hit the droplets and painted a rainbow in the air. That was the only remotely beautiful part of the experience for Kara though. She wiped at her glasses to dry them off as Alex swallowed loudly.

‘You’ve doing what for the past week!?’ A knock on the door interrupted Kara before she could even think about what her best response options could be and she internally sighed in relief. Kara skipped to the door and gratefully accepted the pizza from a guy who tried to figure out what kind of plumbing emergency had her looking like she did. As soon as the door was closed again Alex was glaring at Kara and demanding an answer.

‘It’s not like I’ve been two steps behind her this whole week. I’ve just been keeping track of her. Finding her routine. Nobody can get close to her when she enters and leaves work. And I thought you’d appreciate me keeping tabs on a Luthor. Although she hasn’t done anything even slightly villainous yet. She mostly just works. She hasn’t noticed me. I’ve been really careful. Sometimes all I do is listen for her. Which is pretty funny actually, she mutters under her breath a lot and-‘

‘Kara!’

‘Sorry.’ Kara looked guiltily at her feet, suddenly unable to look Alex in the eye.

‘So where will she be tomorrow?’ Kara’s face brightened as she met Alex’s gaze.

‘There’s this coffee stand she goes to every morning. It’s half way between her apartment building and her work. I can introduce myself and… umm… charm her into an interview?’ Alex’s eyes rolled far enough back in her head that Kara wondered momentarily if she might get them stuck there.

‘And if I tell you not to do this, you’ll just agree now but go tomorrow anyway?’ Kara nervously grinned and subtly nodded her head.

‘Just… try not say anything that only an alien would say okay?’ Kara wrapped Alex up in a tight hug and proclaimed her the best, most supportive sister in the world.

* * *

 

Kara perched herself on a low wall next to the coffee stand at exactly five minutes to seven. She fiddled with the frame of her glasses as she mentally ran through what she wanted to say. _Miss Luthor, Kara Danvers, reporter for Catco…_ nope that was a bit weak. Why would Lena Luthor want to talk to a reporter from Catco? Maybe just reporter. _The city has questions and I would like to give you the chance to answer them._ Smooth Kara… make it seem like you’re doing her a favour.

Kara was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she completely failed to notice the black sedan pull up in front of her. But the lilting tones of the Luthor’s voice ordering her usual snapped Kara to attention. She sprang to her feet and spurred herself on.

‘Miss Luthor?’ Lena turned so gracefully Kara was sure it was happening in slow motion. She had spent a week following Lena Luthor. She had spent a week listening to Lena Luthor and watching her from afar. But she was completely unprepared for standing face to face with Lena Luthor.

‘Who’s asking?’ That perfect eyebrow raised in question, with the hint of challenge. That intimidating yet unbelievably enticing jawline clenched just slightly. And those piercing eyes that were a steely blue that morning, but Kara was sure they had been a variety of greens ranging from seafoam to shamrock on other days. Kara gaped at her as though by studying Lena’s face she was being given the answer to the age-old question _what is the meaning of life?_

As she stood there unflinching Kara was certain she was somehow tuning into someone playing ‘Careless Whisper’ as they got ready for the day. There is no way that was only in her head, right? Because that, would be weird…

Lena’s head tilted ever so slightly to the side as her face scrunched in amused confusion.

‘That would usually be where you would say your name.’ Kara’s mouth snapped shut and she somehow managed to shake herself out of her stupor… sort of.

‘Oh, umm K-‘ _nope, plain old Kara Danvers was not going to get an interview with this woman_. ‘-Lois Lane, Daily Planet.’ _What? No!_ Alex had been very clear; the Lois Lane lie would absolutely **not** work.

Lena’s faintly bemused smirk turned into a wide grin as she chuckled softly. It was the perfect accompaniment to the song that was somehow still stuck looping on the first ten seconds as it rattled through her brain.

‘And you want to write a piece on the fledgling Luthor villainess?’

‘Well, I-‘ Kara’s voice squeaked slightly, and she cleared her throat. Was this working? ‘I want to write a piece on you. Whether you are the villain is yet to be determined.’ Kara gave herself an imaginary double thumbs up for completing an entire sentence that actually sounded half way decent.

Lena glanced back at her waiting car as she collected her coffee. She straightened herself and seemed to stand a little taller for it as she bit her lip in thought. She hummed absentmindedly and paced to her car door, the driver patiently holding it open for her. Before she slid in she raked her eyes over Kara once more for effect and spoke again.

‘I just took over a company riddled with inefficiency and xenophobic terrorism, and my brother is trying to kill me. I don’t really have the time in my schedule for an interview.’

‘Oh.’ Although Kara was disappointed, there was an equal feeling of relief that perhaps Lena was not at all like her brother.

‘I also don’t have time for lunch, but my assistant keeps putting it in the schedule anyway. Come to L-Corp today at one o’clock and I’ll answer your questions.’

‘Really?’ Kara’s excited grin split across her face and her eyes sparked with glee. This Lois Lane bit was really working. Unbelievable.

‘Really. Who shall I tell my staff to expect?’ Lena paused to smirk at Kara. ‘There is no way the sunny girl in front of me is the same dullard that chases after Superman.’ Kara choked out a strangled cough laugh. Kara loved Lois and how happy she made Clark, but for some reason, that was hilarious.

Lena’s quirked eyebrow reminded her to answer.

‘Kara. Err, Kara Danvers.’ Lena nodded and smiled at Kara before she slipped into the darkness of the car and the driver sealed her away. Kara was baffled to find that the saxophone solo had abruptly stopped as soon as the door slammed shut. _Maybe that was Lena’s ringtone…_ That would have made for a very persistent caller.

Kara pumped her fist and quietly whooped. Stage one of operation Become A Reporter complete. The operation name still needed work and stage one didn’t exactly go off without a hitch, but this was progress.

 

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_If at any point you believed the Lois Lane gambit was going to work, I consider that a slap in the face to the intelligence of the greatest mind of our time. Shame on you._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

 

As her car pulled away Lena muttered to herself between sips of her coffee.

‘This is definitely not a good idea.’ She had no clue why the stumbling sentences and complete inability to lie had endeared her to the reporter. Though she did know how the swept-up waves of gold hair, pooling blue eyes and exuberant grin had won her over. That girl was a summers day personified. Ordinarily Lena shied away from the sun, but this sunshine felt safe. _Which was stupid because the last thing L-Corp needs is the Luthor name raked through the mud by an overzealous reporter, again._

The car slowed to a stop in front of L-Corp, security hustled her inside and no one bothered her as she made her way to the top with only the sound of her heels clicking for company. Being a Luthor was always exhaustingly lonely. Even before Lex had frightened the world away from the name. The name and its wealth brought the kind of people that couldn’t be trusted. She could be in a ballroom full of people, they could be talking to her, fawning over her, and they still never really spoke to her. There was no one that wanted to really see Lena, only people that wanted to see Lena Luthor.

The elevator chimed, and the doors slid open. Coffee still in hand Lena inhaled deeply, mentally prepared for the morning of meetings filled with misogyny and sighed as she strode forward.

‘Jess, pencil Kara Danvers in for one o’clock.’ Jess sprang to her feet, tablet in one hand and a stack of files tucked under her other arm.

‘Miss Luthor, you have to eat.’

‘I will.’

‘I meant lunch specifically.’

‘I know what you meant. And I will, call it a lunch meeting if you like.’ Jess sighed.

‘Kara Danvers, okay.’ She quickly altered the schedule and pulled the files from under her arm. She walked a pace behind Lena as they entered her office and waited while she hung up her bag and coat.

‘Here are the staff reports from last year. Was there anything in particular you were looking for?’ Lena glanced across the first file and took her seat behind the nearly bare desk. She slapped the files down and looked up at her assistant.

‘Just people that might try to kill me. Nothing too unusual.’ Lena gave Jess a wry grin before dismissing her.

As she half heartedly flicked through the staff records she couldn’t help letting her mind wander back to the pale-yellow waves of sunshine that had brightened her morning. _Why would anyone pretend to be Lois Lane to get an interview with a Luthor? **Lois Lane?!**_

She had sifted through every staff member in the L-Corp building and set a small pile aside before she was due for her first meeting of the day. The meeting started in less than five minutes, but she was still in a cycle of power plays with the board. They could wait for her. She had enough time to quickly do a bit of research. _If Kara Danvers knows enough about me to know where I get my coffee in the morning, I ought to know something about her._

She opened her laptop and headed straight into google. Kara Danvers was a nobody. She had an Instagram account filled mostly with pictures of food, and she had a twitter account that said she was Cat Grants assistant. So, unless Kara was planning on submitting a piece to get hired at somewhere more reputable than CatCo, this interview would be appearing next to ‘high waisted jeans, yes or no?’ If it appeared anywhere at all. Kara would either write a bland business profile that Cat would have little interest in, or she’d write some obscene hatchet piece on the youngest Luthor. And if she did slander Lena, well it would be in CatCo magazine, _no great loss_. Or so she told herself. It settled her somehow, the big hitters in the news world all wanted the one on one interview and Lena hid away from their speculating eyes.

* * *

 

One o’clock finally came and Lena could take a step away from the endless parade of men who thought her too young, too female, too inexperienced to do her job. Her lunch was already waiting for her on the desk when she slunk back into her office. A long sigh escaped as she flopped inelegantly into her chair and closed her eyes. After a moment of peace her eyes flew open and she focused on the clock. Twelve minutes after one. And no Kara Danvers. Lena should probably have been relieved, but the pit in her stomach felt like disappointment.

She despondently dug into her kale before the door flew open and very apologetic Kara Danvers practically flew into the room. She was shortly followed by a harried looking Jess.

‘I am so sorry Miss Luthor, she’s so fast.’ Jess gasped.

‘And I am so sorry I am late. I know you are really busy and I am basically bottom of the list of people you want to talk to. Please let me interview you. I promise I’ll be quick. This probably isn’t how you want to spend your lunch, and I’m late, which is really rude and I’m so sorry-‘

‘Yes, you said that.’ Lena spoke with a gleeful glint in her eye. ‘Thank you Jess.’ Jess nodded and quietly left, closing the door behind her.

‘Thank you so much.’ Kara rushed out before plopping into one of the chairs across from Lena.

‘I only have one stipulation.’ Kara audibly gulped.

‘Which is?’ Her voice slightly heightened as it tailed off.

‘You answer one question first.’

‘Oh.’ Kara sighed in relief. ‘Of course. What do you want to know?’ Lena studied the open and bright expression on Kara’s face. There was so much hopefulness there and when she gazed into Kara’s eyes it was like they were wells of optimism, wells that she could draw from.

‘Are you asking these questions for CatCo or are you intending to sell your work elsewhere?’ Lena could not draw her eyes away from Kara, she wanted to look down at her plate, up at the clock, out to the skyline, anywhere really. But her eyes were stuck to Kara’s face.

‘Uh.’ Kara nervously laughed and cleared her throat. ‘I see you’ve done your research.’

‘I never go into a meeting blind Miss Danvers. And really, how could I not want to research you?’ Lena masked her shock well, _how the hell did that slip out?_ Kara gave a flustered laugh and looked down at the notepad in her hands.

‘It’s… It’s for Catco. I want to show my boss I can be a reporter.’

‘You’re very bold Miss Danvers. I’d already have given you the job if I were Cat Grant.’ Kara’s cheeks tinted pink and another flustered laugh burst out. ‘First you accost me on my way to work, then you steam roller my assistant and now I find you are writing a piece no one asked you for.’ Kara’s eyes shot up instantly.

‘I am so sorry about “accosting” you. I didn’t mean it to be like that. It’s just you’re really hard to get to talk to. And your assistant doesn’t put any reporters through to you. I didn’t want to ruin your morning before it began, I just didn’t know how else to introduce myself. Please stop me any time now. I will probably keep talking for the entire interview if you don’t stop me. I’m terrible at this. Sorry I-‘

‘I was willing to let you ramble for a little longer but there’s only so many times I will let you apologise.’ Lena smiled politely. ‘Honestly, our talk this morning was the most pleasant of the day by far.’ Kara’s mouth fell open.

At last, Lena dragged her gaze from Kara. She delicately stabbed at her lunch as she avoided the flushed face sat in front of her.

‘So, did you want to ask about how I could betray my brother, what my evil motives are for moving to National City or what my nefarious plans are for L-Corp?’

‘Uh… I-‘ Lena smirked deviously at Kara and relaxed back in her seat. ‘I suppose all of the above, though I wouldn’t have worded it like that.’ Lena’s smile softened as she searched Kara for malicious intent, unsuccessfully.

‘I’m just here for a fresh start Miss Danvers. I want to make a name for myself outside of my family. I hope you can understand that.’

‘Yeah.’ The word slipped out in a trembling sigh. A recognition of kinship flashed across Lena’s face and the two fell into relaxed conversation. Somehow Lena found it easy to explain how she wasn’t always a Luthor, wanted L-Corp to be a force for good, wanted to be more than Lex Luthor’s younger sister.

Kara occasionally made notes but it all felt so unlike an interview that it made Lena a little nervous. Kara never hinted at the expected distaste for Lena or the anticipated condemnation of the company she was trying to resurrect. Kara obviously knew about the Luthor history, so what game was she playing that she treated Lena with kind eyes and bright smiles? When would the other shoe drop? When would Kara spit in her face?

Lena felt the biting remark coming when Kara took a deep breath, preparing herself for the big question.

‘Why did you let me interview you?’ _Oh, not quite so biting._ Lena leant forward, resting her elbows on the desk. Her mother would have disapproved. She intertwined her fingers and pondered for a moment, letting the question sit awkwardly between them.

‘You’re different Miss Danvers.’ Lena paused to choose her words carefully. ‘You didn’t come barrelling at me with venom lined questions. And you’re a terrible liar, so I figured I would be able to tell what angle you were going for.’

‘I’m not a terrible liar. I can lie.’ Lena’s brow raised.

‘Should I be worried that this friendly interview was all an act, so you could uncover my dark motives?’

‘No, I just… I can lie… I don’t know why I’m arguing this.’ The two women smiled openly at each other just as Jess’ voice crackled through the intercom.

‘Miss Luthor your next meeting is in five minutes.’

‘Thank you Jess.’

‘Oh shoot, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to take up so much of your time.’ Kara said as she glanced at her watch. She stuffed her notepad into her bag and rose to her feet. Lena followed suit and circled her desk.

‘It was a pleasure to be interviewed by you Miss Danvers. I hope Cat sees what an asset you are.’ She offered her hand tentatively. Kara enthusiastically grabbed it and beamed at Lena. _Beamed at her. Kara Danvers was beaming at Lena Luthor. That’s new._   ‘I hope this isn’t the last time we talk.’

‘I hope not either.’

Stage 2 of Operation Become A Reporter complete.

 

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Buckle up kiddo, because things are about to get stupid. When I found out they were friends for over a year before they dated I thought they must have just slowly gotten to those feelings.  
Not even close. I don’t think they were ever just platonic friends. They were just dumb._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

 

That evening Kara had fastidiously prepared herself to write the best darn article to maybe, possibly, ever grace the pages of CatCo magazine. She had set out her notepad, surrounded herself with pot stickers and pizza ( _the food of the forward thinker_ ), curled up on the sofa with her laptop and, because George Michael had tunnelled his way into her brain in the morning, she had begun by listening to ‘Faith’. She wasn’t entirely sure what it was that made her put the music on, but it seemed to help with the writing process.

By the time she had finished it was the early hours of the next morning. She hoped it wouldn’t ordinarily take her so long to write one single article, but this one carried a lot of importance. It could be her key to her dream job, it could change a lot of people’s minds about L-Corp’s new CEO, and it was about Lena. Lena, who Kara was nurturing a blind faith and fondness for. _And there it is, blind faith. Faith!_

She had proof read it three times and was satisfied with the tone she had managed to hit with the help of her expert thesaurus using skills. _Thesaurology is probably what it’s called._ She had listened to ‘Faith’ significantly more times than any person with an ounce of sanity should have, which is to say, more than three times in one evening. And now she had produced something she wouldn’t quite call a business or character profile. _It’s a very unbiased, article of truth to let Lena have a fresh start._ It was incredibly biased. It was a thinly veiled scripture of adoration, a hymn of admiration to be sung in the church of Lena Luthor.

* * *

 

Kara was fairly certain she had never been so stomach churningly nervous before. She had been shitting bricks when she was stuck in the phantom zone. She had been soul crushingly depressed by the loss of Krypton. She had been debilitatingly apprehensive about becoming a part of the Danvers family. And she had been an uncomfortable combination of excited and blindly panicked when she had prevented Alex’s plane from crashing. But she had never been this nervous before.

Her fingers twisted together because she was the only thing she could grip without someone noticing her crushing it to dust. Her eyes flitted between timidly studying her shoes and optimistically watching Cat.

‘Keira, if you audibly gulp one more time I shall shove this in the shredder before I’ve even finished.’

‘Sorry Miss Grant.’ And that became Kara’s new focus. _No more gulping. Gulping stands between me and success._ Which was a difficult task in the circumstances, so she rapidly flicked through calming thoughts. _Puppies playing, free pizza, Lena’s smile… flying, Lena’s hands are soft, nope no more Lena. Umm, movie night with Alex tonight, Lena’s eyebrow game… Oh come on. They’ve met one and a half times. Chill brain._

‘How much did she pay you to write this?’ Thankfully Cat saved Kara from her spiralling thoughts.

‘She?’

‘Miss Luthor.’ Cat looked at Kara with dismay smeared on her face.

‘Nothing. I was hoping _you_ would pay me for it. I want to be a reporter.’ A thin smile almost imperceptibly appeared on Cat’s face.

‘And if you are writing articles who will be getting my coffee?’

‘Err… your new assistant.’ Kara quietly hoped. Cat’s smile grew just a little wider.

‘And where do you imagine me placing your article in my magazine?’ Kara’s eyes widened, was this a scathing indictment or a serious request for a suggestion? She let out a short sharp breath.

‘Celebrity profiles?’

‘Are you asking me or telling me?’ _Asking, definitely asking._

‘Telling.’ Cat’s smile finally reached her cheeks. Kara wished it was a good sign but honestly it was unsettling in a Cheshire Cat kind of way, which seemed apt.

‘It needs some changes. It’s sickeningly sweet and far too biased. But it’s well written and we’ll be the first to have a one on one interview with Lena Luthor.’ Kara nearly burst with excitement.

‘Thank you!’

‘I wasn’t finished. I will put it in the next issue and I will even offer you a job as a reporter. If you do two last things for me.’ _Anything! Wooh!_

‘Of course. What can I do?’

‘Find your replacement, I don’t have the time or patience to sit through endless interviews with dithery graduates who will no doubt fall short.’

‘I’ll start looking right away.’ Kara turned to leave before remembering there was a second request. She twisted awkwardly at the waist with her feet planted towards the door. ‘And the second thing?’

‘Get out of my office before I change my mind and keep you as my assistant.’

Operation Become A Reporter completed!

* * *

 

When the next issue of CatCo Magazine was published there was a particularly ambiguous image of Lena Luthor gracing it’s cover. She was neither the raving madman that Lex had represented on many a newspaper and magazine, nor the courageous hero that Supergirl so regularly signified in media. She was however somewhat reminiscent of The Mona Lisa. She sat elegantly in contrasting lighting, with just the hint of a smile on her face.

 

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_The cover is still proudly framed and on display. You’ve seen it. She says it’s because it was her first article and her first cover article in one. But Aunt Sam has always joked with an element of believability, that it was the only way she could frame a picture of her without raising questions._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

 

By midday that very same day a parade of delivery boys had trouped through the CatCo Worldwide offices and smothered Kara’s new cubicle in flowers. It was quite the spectacle, but the accompanying message was rather more subtle.

Thank you.  
\- L.L.

Kara was floored. This kind of gesture was not something she had ever been familiar with. She had received flowers before, but like most people, a bouquet at a time. She had been thanked before. But she, Kara Danvers not Supergirl, had never felt so special as she did that morning. Never before had she felt so seen as Kara Danvers.

All she had done was write what she felt was the truth. She had spoken to Lena and seen something familiar. It had been easy to write Lena’s story, her story of adoption, a childhood of feeling untethered and a drive to carve her own path was all so _familiar_ to Kara. Lena was someone who could perhaps understand Kara Danvers, someone who saw her, not Supergirl. _How do you make friends with a twenty-four-year-old billionaire CEO?_

Kara pondered the question for a full day before inspiration struck. _Food!_ And so, she found herself strolling towards the L-Corp elevator carrying a patisserie box at half past six in the evening. Security had tried to stop her but with one unbelievable phone call upstairs Kara was granted permanent access to the top floor of L-Corp.

From ground floor to top floor the elevator took forty-six seconds without stops. Most of the staff had gone home so the nervous questioning of her visit was uninterrupted for forty-six painful seconds. Lena had been eating the most offensively green lunch Kara had ever seen the last time they had spoken. She was just now realising that doughnuts may not have been the perfect offering. _Doughnuts are my happy food, I have the metabolism of a… well a Kryptonian. She has the perfect figure, she’s probably very careful about what she eats. This was stupid._

Before Kara could spiral into self-doubt any further the elevator dinged, and Jess was stood in front of her, with her coat slung over an arm and thumbs tapping away at her phone. She glanced up, appraising Kara in an intimidating sweep before stepping into the metal box. Kara smiled nervously and stepped out.

Kara straightened herself up and took a reassuring breath before walking into Lena’s office with well-acted confidence. Lena raised her head from her papers and smiled wide.

‘Kara, I didn’t think I’d see you again until I’d had at least one more attempt on my life.’ She smiled wryly as Kara sadly nodded. _How can she be so… so… blasé about her brother trying to kill her?_

‘I wanted to thank you.’

‘ _You_ wanted to thank _me_?’ Lena stood up and circled her desk to stand in front of Kara.

‘Well I don’t know any other L.L.s that might have filled my cubicle with flowers.’ As though completely forgetting the inner turmoil of the elevator ride, she proudly proffered the small box of doughnuts. ‘I brought deep-fried sugary goodness.’ Panic flashed across her face as she recalled the kale. ‘You do eat doughnuts, right?’ Lena smirked at Kara.

‘Well, I am human.’ Lena’s grin as she slipped the doughnuts away from Kara and headed towards the sofa nearly melted Kara into a puddle. _Wait… human… does she know?_

‘Actually Kara, I’m glad you’re here.’

‘You are?’

‘Of course. You’re the only person in National City that doesn’t look at me and see Lex.’ She paused, pulling apart a doughnut delicately. ‘I wanted to thank you properly for the article. It wasn’t what I was expecting.’ Kara dove into the box herself and joyously bit down on a sprinkle coated treat.

‘I just wrote the truth.’

‘Well you’re probably the only one that sees it that way. So, thank you.’ They both smiled tentatively as they sat angled toward each other.

‘You’re welcome.’ Kara could practically see cogs turning in Lena’s mind. Lena’s face was smothered in apprehension as she stuttered over a few syllables before forming a sentence.

‘Cat gave you that reporter job you wanted?’ Kara grinned excitedly.

‘Yeah! Thank you for the interview, I would not have impressed Cat with anything less than a scoop of your calibre.’

‘I’m glad.’ Lena smiled nervously. ‘Could I ask you something?’

‘Seems only fair.  I did ask you a lot of questions.’

‘Would you be willing to work with me?’ Kara’s face scrunched in confusion and her head titled to the side.

‘Huh?’ Was all Kara could manage to force out. Lena wrung her hands tightly and worked her jaw, choosing her words carefully.

‘Like I said, my company is plagued by an unwanted xenophobic agenda and my brother is trying to kill me. I was hoping you would help me root out what I don’t want and along the way you’d hopefully get some good stories to hand over to Cat.’ Kara was stunned into silence, mouth agape and information processing very slowly. She was expecting to be asked something simple like “where did you get these doughnuts?” or “where did you go to university?” She was not expecting to be handed exclusive story rights to the most popular topic in National City. Determining silence to be as good as a no Lena shrunk in on herself.

‘Never mind, it was a crazy idea. Insanity runs in the family you know.’ She forced out a hollow laugh. Kara blinked and finally her thought processes caught up.

‘You mean we’d be like Cagney and Lacey… or Rizzoli and Isles?’ Lena cocked her head and her smile pulled to one side of her face.

‘Well we won’t have any real law enforcement powers… but other than that, yeah.’ Kara _squealed_. Unabashedly, ear piercingly, squealed in delight.

‘Yes!’ Lena’s face cracked with a smile wider than she was aware she was capable of. ‘Wait, I just… Wh- I literally just became a reporter, I have pretty much zero experience and you barely know me. Why me?’ Lena smiled deviously.

‘Kara, do you know how many reporters asked to interview me?’

‘A lot?’ Lena laughed.

‘Yeah, a lot. Every media outlet in National City and Metropolis wanted an interview, every news blogger and vlogger wanted to scoop the big hitters. And every single one of them would have asked me all the questions about Lex and nothing about me. Every single one of them would have written about his legacy, not what I want to achieve.’ Lena paused and laid her hand on top of Kara’s. ‘I looked at you and I saw someone I hoped I could trust to see past Lex. And it was a risk. I can’t afford to take risks with my reputation. You showed me I could still trust people.’ Kara tried to smile merrily but her face was slightly contorted by the pain of knowing that Lena was so trodden down by the world that she had nearly given up on everyone. Lena saw the understanding in Kara’s eyes and feared dwelling on it.

‘Besides, you caught me at my secret coffee stop. You’re either exceptionally lucky or remarkably sneaky. And I don’t have any friends in National City. Who else would I ask to help me?’

‘Consider me your first friend in National City then.’ Kara smiled and it shone through her sparkling blue eyes, crinkling at the corners. Lena felt a twist of emotion settling in her gut, not guilt, fear or anger, it was something new, something she wasn’t familiar with.

‘There’s just one very important thing we have to do first.’ Lena said with an air of professionalism usually reserved for meetings. Kara’s face dropped into an expression as close to serious as she could get.

‘Do I have to sign something?’ Lena chuckled.

‘We have to make a decision.’ She bit her lip to keep from smiling at Kara’s struggle to beat her excitement into submission. ‘Is it Luthor and Danvers, or Danvers and Luthor?’

 

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Runt, the first thing we do when you get back is marathon Rizzoli & Isles. It’s a bit before our time and they stick them in the ‘gal pals’ zone but you’re going to love it. You’re buying all the food if you come back early and I lose my money to Aunt Alex though._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_


	2. The City Fires At Lena Luthor And She Fires Back

Lena had planned for the first Karlena investigation to uncover the asshat embezzling millions from her research and development department. Unfortunately, Lex had his own plans. At least she hoped it was Lex. If it wasn’t Lex, she had managed to work her way onto someone else’s hitlist without her knowledge.

While stood confidently in front of the board Lena explained her decision to loosen her grip on the reins of the company. The moment she took control of LuthorCorp Lena had fired the CFO and COO. They couldn’t be trusted and wouldn’t be needed to do a job that Lena could perfectly well manage on her own. But if she was going to find time to be one half of a Lex fighting duo she would need to free up her schedule.

* * *

 

L-Corp’s newest hire had been hand picked by Lena. Sam Arias worked as hard and as diligently as Lena herself. So, Lena hadn’t even interviewed her. The morning after her partnership with Kara was formed Lena had gone down to accounting and placed the contract on the desk in front of Sam.

‘I’d like to offer you a promotion.’ Sam smiled politely but focused on Lena rather than the documents set on her desk.

‘That’s very kind Miss Luthor, but I’m already head of accounting. I’m not sure there is much up from here.’ Lena carefully ran her finger along the paper under the job title.

‘Just Lena is fine. If you accept, we’ll be working too closely for that kind of tedious formality.’ Sam looked down, read the words, read them again, blinked, read them again, tilted her head to Lena and exhaled nervously.

‘CFO?’

‘CFO.’ Lena smiled and offered her hand. Sam glanced around the department floor in disbelief.

‘Me?’

‘You’re the only one here who I feel I can trust to do the job well and with a moral code. So, yes. You.’ Lena jolted her outstretched hand slightly in encouragement.

‘Wow.’ Sam firmly grasped Lena’s hand and shook it in bewilderment. ‘Thank you.’

* * *

 

Sam sat patiently to her right, trying to avoid eye contact with a now somewhat disgruntled board room of men. Her nerves flared and her grip on her pen slipped. The pen flicked awkwardly and bounced off the table before landing at Lena’s feet. Lena paused her irritated scowl at Mr Bracken skimming over his phone and smiled good naturedly at Sam before she bent to pick the pen up. In that very same moment an echoing pop sounded in the room followed by a tinkling trickle of glass.

When all eyes turned to the noise it very quickly became clear that Lena needed to stay ducked down. Sam rushed to cover Lena as they dashed away from any windows. _Maybe just one week without trying to kill me would be possible Lex?_

‘Normally Lex is much more explosive in his assassination attempts.’ A barely there smile graced Lena’s face as she tried to reassure Sam. ‘I guess bullet-proofing the glass is going to be the first big expenditure with you as CFO.’ Sam fumbled for her phone before calling the police, not particularly comforted by Lena’s jovial tone.

* * *

 

Kara had now known the sound of Lena’s heartbeat for seventeen days. The first week of listening had been something Kara was ashamed of, it felt creepy. It was creepy. Then she had met Lena and found her to be, like her heartbeat, steady and calming. So as far as Kara was concerned it was natural for her to seek out that heartbeat when she needed to calm herself down. For some reason she zeroed in on Lena’s heartbeat rather than any of the other thudding muscles somewhat nearer.

She rationalised it, of course. _I’m just checking on National City’s most targeted woman. That’s my job._ So after having her latest article sent back with some painful critique Kara was just doing her job by checking on Lena’s heartbeat.

*thud thud*

Perfect. All was well with the world. Except, then it wasn’t.

*Thudthud **THUDthudddd ThUD** _thud*_

Not calming at all. Kara listened for the noises around Lena’s erratic heartbeat and it definitely continued to be distinctly not calming. In fact, it freaked her the _heck_ out. She jumped to her feet and began sprinting out of the building. She had no idea who was playing the song, but it was rattling around in her head and it wasn’t going anywhere. And honestly, Kara felt like there had never been a more appropriate time to hear a song called ‘Run For Cover’ by a band called ‘The Killers’.

As soon as she was clear of prying eyes she shed her Kara disguise and launched into the sky, shooting straight for L-Corp. She was a streaking blur of red and blue through the lobby, up the stairs and across the floor to where Lena was sitting with her back to the wall. The gust of wind she caused pulled Lena’s eyes up.

‘Supergirl.’ Kara scanned over Lena and finally managed to stop hearing music long enough to notice Lena’s heart settle.

‘Miss Luthor, are you okay?’

‘I’m fine, thank you. You’re a little late for the show sadly.’ Kara looked at Lena guiltily.

‘Sorry about that.’ Lena barked out a laugh.

‘You don’t have to apologise Supergirl. Unless you were the one holding the sniper rifle?’ Lena’s lips twisted into a grin and Kara let go of the breath she had been holding in a soft chuckle.

‘No. I’m more of a fists to bad guys type of girl.’

‘Should I prepare for fisticuffs then?’ Lena smirked at Supergirl as she rose to her feet. There was a tension filled moment of silence between the pair as Kara reminded herself that Supergirl had not just agreed to join forces with Lena Luthor, Kara Danvers had.

‘The way Kara tells it, you’re one of the good guys.’ Kara’s eyes flickered to Sam who had been soothingly gripping Lena’s arm the whole time.

‘Oh, how rude of me. Supergirl, this is Sam Arias, my new CFO. Sam… well you know.’ Sam lifted her hand from Lena’s arm and offered it to Supergirl.

‘A pleasure to meet you Ms Arias.’ Supergirl carefully shook Sam’s hand and smiled politely. There was something twisting in her stomach, but she squashed it down and turned back to Lena.

‘I’m glad you’re okay Miss Luthor.’ And then she was gone, whisked away in a blur.

* * *

 

National City, it seemed, was full of new things for Lena. Kara Danvers _beamed_ at her. Supergirl was _glad_ she was okay. Lena was beginning to question her sanity.

The police had come and gone. She had sat through their questions and put on her most convincing smile. They had not been particularly concerned about her safety, but Lena was relieved because it meant no round the clock watch. Still, Jess had declared that her desk was far safer than Lena’s, which was how she found herself seated behind it with nothing but her laptop and phone.

 **[Lena: 11:46]** Are you free for lunch?

 **[Kara: 11:46]** Always!

 **[Kara: 11:47]** Are you okay by the way? I heard about what happened.

 **[Kara: 11:47]** I’m bringing doughnuts.

 **[Lena: 11:48]** I’m fine. I wouldn’t expect you to bring anything else to our first detective job.

 **[Kara: 11:49]** Yes! Luthor and Danvers, on the case.

[ **Lena: 11:49]** Danvers and Luthor*

 **[Kara: 11:50]** I think my way sounds better.

 **[Kara: 11:50]** Do you think we could get business cards made?

 **[Lena: 11:51]** Agree to disagree. I don’t think that business cards are required for a self-employed investigative team.

 **[Kara: 11:51]** :(

Lena was not sure how on Earth she had gotten herself into this. The assassination attempt made perfect sense. But what had possessed her to start up an investigative partnership with a woman she had met twice before? What made her leave her company’s financials in the hands of an untested employee while she decided to gallivant about the city investigating Lex and his minions?

‘This is not a good idea.’ She muttered to herself as she tried to refocus on her laptop until lunch.

Lena must have been successful because she remained unaware of the time until she glanced at the clock when Kara strolled in, doughnuts and all. Kara’s bright smile shone across the room and Lena filled with warmth when their eyes met. It was that same safe sunshine she felt when they had first met. _Does this safe feeling explain my actions or further prove my insanity?_

‘Detective Luthor, I brought your favourite.’ Lena couldn’t help but chuckle.

‘I knew there was a reason I teamed up with you.’ She stood up and began to lead Kara down to the boardroom. ‘Come on Danvers, we’ve got a case.’ Kara followed along with a spring in her step.

‘So, who are we rooting out of your company first?’ Lena came to a stop in front of the elevator and tapped the button.

‘Actually, I thought we could put that on hold while we solve a more pressing matter.’

‘Oh?’

‘Yes, it’s a very dramatic case. I hope we’re up to it. **Who shot Lena Luthor?** ’ The reminder flipped Kara’s stomach and a look of unease spread across her face.

‘Lena, shouldn’t we leave that kind of thing to the police?’ Lena smiled at Kara with slight condescension slipping in.

‘I don’t think National City’s finest are going to be putting their best foot forward to protect a Luthor.’ Kara worked very hard to maintain a blank expression as anger shot through her. The elevator doors opened, and the duo stepped in.

‘The police should treat everyone equally.’

‘Yes. They should. But surely you’ve noticed by now that as a Luthor I get a very special kind of treatment. It’s called scepticism and mistrust.’ The doors opened again and the duo continued toward the boardroom. Just before Lena’s heel broke past the doorway Kara flung out her arm and stopped her.

‘Lena, last time you were in this room a bullet was aimed right at you. You should stay in cover.’ Lena laughed.

‘Do you think he’s still there, waiting for me to come back to the exact same spot?’

‘… maybe. You never know.’ Kara walked in, placed the doughnuts on the table and headed straight for the window. Lena strolled in after her and grabbed for a sugary treat.

‘I was thinking we could figure out the trajectory of the bullet with some lasers from the R and D department.’ Lena said as she absentmindedly tore apart her doughnut while staring at Kara.

‘Looks like the sniper shot from the top of the Galaxy Communications building.’ Lena scrunched her face as she watched Kara align her head with the hole in the window pane.

‘Kara, we’re better detectives than that I hope. I will not be eye balling this one.’ Kara shrugged softly and let out an almost imperceptible sigh. ‘Much as I would like to jump in and blame Morgan Edge for my problems, I would rather stop any further assassination attempts.’ Kara turned from the window and brightened under Lena’s gaze. She shoved half a doughnut into her mouth and accepted that Kara Danvers’ eye sight couldn’t be trusted on this one.

‘Do you know where the bullet went?’

‘Sadly, the police took it.’ Lena swept her thumb adeptly across her phone and sent her message before perching on the edge of the table. ‘Got any contacts in the police department miss hotshot reporter?’

‘No.’ Kara looked glumly at the floor.

‘Not yet.’ Lena pushed the doughnuts towards Kara encouragingly. Kara smiled wide and perched next to Lena.

‘I heard you got a new CFO.’

‘My, my, Kara. You might not have contacts in the police department, but you certainly have them in L-Corp.’ Kara cringed.

‘Oh, yeah. Supergirl mentioned it when I saw her…’ She scrambled for anything to move the conversation quickly on. ‘Shall we go and get a laser thing then?’ Kara started to rise to her feet when Lena’s hand rested on her forearm.

‘I’ve asked one to be brought to us. Seemed easier.’ Lena glanced at where her hand lay on Kara’s arm. Her instincts told her to pull away but instead she tore her eyes away and pressed on. ‘I guess you know my morning didn’t go to plan, how has yours been?’ Kara groaned and rolled her head.

‘I still really want to be a reporter, but it is hard work writing about something you don’t really care about. I’ve rewritten my article on what trends to expect next season three times already.’ Lena laughed softly and the sound soothed Kara’s frustrations.

‘I never knew I was getting such a good deal teaming up with you. I get a crime fighting partner and a trend guru in one.’ Lena squeezed Kara’s arm and knocked their shoulders together. Kara revelled in the easy comradery until it was irritatingly disturbed by the appearance of a lab tech and a laser.

‘Okay, let’s set this up, figure out where the shot came from and solve this case, so you can finish up your article and wow the world with your writing talent again.’

‘I’m sure the world can’t wait to find out what to wear and eat next month…’ Lena smirked as she put together the tripod and angled the laser carefully on top.

‘I know I said I was a good Luthor, but I’ve somehow found myself aiming a laser at National City with a smile on my face.’ Kara laughed and held up her hands.

‘Please, don’t kill us Miss Luthor. Think of the children! The children!’

‘Meet my demands and I’ll be merciful.’

‘Anyyyyything!’ Kara dipped to her knees in a mocking plea. Lena’s eyebrow shot up.

‘Brunch tomorrow?’ Kara laughed and stood up.

‘Deal. A pleasure doing business with you Miss Luthor.’

‘You don’t know where we’re eating yet…’ Lena adjusted the laser focus and calibrated the settings to make it brighter as it stretched through the sky.

‘Ominous.’

‘I just noticed your look of sheer disgust every time I took a mouthful of kale.’

‘Yeah. Because it’s gross. It’s so green and “healthy”, it’s all kinds of disappointing.’ Lena lifted a pair of binoculars to her eyes and started searching for the laser across the skyline.

‘Not everything green is going to kill you.’ If Lena hadn’t had her eyes glued to the binoculars she would have noticed Kara’s face saying something akin to ‘… _is she talking about kryptonite. Does she know?’_ Kara’s laugh was not authentic in any sense of the word.

‘Pfft. It might not kill me, but I won’t enjoy it.’ Lena smiled to herself and zoomed in with the binoculars. She let out an exaggerated sigh.

‘Well I’m going to have to admit defeat Kara.’

‘Yes! I knew greens were gross.’ Kara fist pumped and bounced on the balls of her feet with a widening grin. Lena chuckled.

‘Not about that, I stand by kale. But, your eyeballing was spot on. The top of Galaxy Communications.’ Kara grinned smugly at Lena and grabbed the last doughnut before taking an exaggerated bite.

‘How’s your B and E record Kara?’ Kara’s forehead crinkled.

‘My B and E record?’

‘Well, have you ever broken and entered before.’ Kara looked about guiltily.

‘Maybe…’

‘And have you ever been caught.’

‘Only by Alex.’ Kara knotted her fingers together. When she saw a slight question on Lena’s face she elaborated. ‘My sister.’ Lena smiled mischievously at Kara.

‘Excellent. There is no way Edge is going to give me access to his rooftop.’

* * *

 

Kara was beginning to finally understand how easily Clark had been sucked into the crazy investigative adventures of Lois Lane. Despite every instinct telling her that breaking into a billion-dollar company in the dead of night was a bad idea, she had agreed. She did at least take solace in the fact they had decided to do it at night, at least that seemed like a sensible time of day for casual law breaking. _And it was for a good reason_.

They had planned to meet back at L-Corp at eleven o’clock that night. She had managed to finish her article, but her afternoon was fraught with distraction. Ordinarily she’d expect to have to pause her work while she dealt with a traffic accident or another rampaging alien. Today though, the city had been quiet, yet still she couldn’t focus. She kept inadvertently tuning in to Lena’s heartbeat, _to check she was okay because that was her job as National City’s hero._ And if she wasn’t doing that she was pondering brunch the following day, b _ecause food is exciting and who knows what will be on the menu._

Alex had been entirely suspicious when Kara cut sister night short for work reasons. Kara shot out of the door before Alex could ask too many more questions and headed straight for L-Corp without giving her attire a second thought.

L-Corp was eerily quiet as Kara made her way to Lena’s office. All the blinds had been pulled firmly into place and the dim lamp lighting in the room bounced around the monochromatic room. The only pop of colour was Lena’s perfect ruby lips. Her porcelain skin, slicked back jet hair and sleek black outfit blending in seamlessly. Kara’s eyes flitted across Lena’s figure as she reclined on the sofa. She fidgeted with the arm of her glasses, her cheeks pinked ever so slightly, and her mouth dropped open. Her mind took a nose dive straight into the gutter when, from out of nowhere, she could suddenly hear ‘Sexy Silk’ rattling around her head.

‘Well, one of us needs to change.’ Lena spoke in a low voice that Kara was not ready for. Flustered, Kara looked down at her pastel sundress and cardigan. _Oh golly, is it warm in here? What am I talking about? Of course it isn’t, I’m Kryptonian._

‘You look amazi- err… you look perfect… for sneaking. I should change.’ Kara swallowed thickly and tried her hardest to compose herself. ‘Is there a stealthy clothes-r-us store nearby?’ Lena chuckled.

‘Would you believe that I had expected sunny Kara Danvers to turn up wearing pastels?’ Kara’s blush grew.

‘I wish I could say no.’ Lena pointed to a small pile of clothes on the opposite end of the sofa.

‘You can change through there.’ Lena jerked her head towards her private bathroom door. Kara nearly pulled the door off its hinges and practically slammed it shut behind her. She rested back against the door and took in several gulping breaths. She willed her heart to slow down but that damn song was still swirling around, and she definitely felt the _bu-uh-uh-uh-tterflies within_ …

Knowing she could only stall so long, Kara straightened herself up and sped into her new black ensemble. She made sure her ponytail was tightly held in place and slouched over the sink, staring at herself in the mirror. _I’m about to have a very looong night if you don’t zip it Jessie J._ She rattled her head and achieved little more than turning the volume down. _Well that’s a start I guess._

Kara grasped the door handle, took a deep breath and strode out. Her cool exterior lasted all of about five seconds. Lena didn’t just stand up. Lena uncrossed her legs, languidly rocked to her feet and ran her fingers through her silky black ponytail. _Sweet Rao!_ Lena’s eyes raked over Kara before she paced to the elevator.

‘You know, I wouldn’t have expected it from you Kara.’ _Uh-oh, was it that obvious?_ ‘But you look spectacular in black.’ Kara blushed hard. With Lena’s back to her she cupped her hands in front of her face and used them to blowback a short blast of freeze breath. _Chill out._ She giggled.

‘What’s funny?’ Lena looked at her over her shoulder as she called the elevator.

‘Oh… just a video I saw earlier… of puppies. They were falling over. It was adorable.’

* * *

 

Stood outside Galaxy Communications and staring up at the thirty-two-story building was when the duo realised they had severely under planned. But Kara could do this, she could walk into this building with confidence. She could think like an investigative journalist and unravel the plot to kill Lena Luthor. She could break the law for a woman that she had known for seventeen days (seven of which were not at all creepy stalking days). She could be a sneaky reporter for Lex Luthor’s little sister… wait, could she?

It turns out she could, because she took a deep breath and confidently paced towards the lobby entrance. Lena grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

‘Kara, we are dressed like cat burglars… we are not using the front door.’

‘Right. I knew that… I’ll check for a side door.’ Kara rushed away from Lena’s grip and darted around the corner. She was glad Jessie J had evacuated her brain. She was even mildly amused when instead she started hearing the Pink Panther theme tune. That had to be a good sign for their impending B&E. Except this wasn’t just the Pink Panther theme tune… this was a very specific composition of the seductive saxophone. _Why does it always have to be saxophones?_

So Kara’s clouded mind was slightly distracted as she frazzled a security camera with her heat vision and yanked the solid steel fire door open. _Hey that was kinda sneaky, I could be good at this._ She poked her head back around the corner and flailed her arm to get Lena’s attention. When Lena had stalked to a whispering distance Kara led the way.

‘I found a busted fire exit. Hopefully security is pretty lax.’ Lena smirked deviously.

‘Edge is not the type to skimp on security. He is the type however, to hire the cheapest offer for digital security.’ Lena glanced at the fried camera above the door. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion, briefly flicked to Kara and then back to the camera. ‘Can you give me a boost? I can maybe do something with this camera.’ Kara squatted down and created a platform for Lena with her hands.

‘Thanks.’ Lena carefully grabbed hold of Kara’s shoulder and stepped into her hands. Kara was thinking with laser focus on the task ahead of them, she made sure the only thoughts running through her head were of finding evidence, while Lena’s bodyweight rested on her.

Lena was relieved to find that though the camera was not ever going to capture an image again, its connection to the central system was still intact.  She dug her hand in her jacket pocket and pulled out a small touch screen gadget. Disconnecting the camera and replacing it with her own hardware was ridiculously easy and it wasn’t long before Lena had successfully frozen every camera in the building.

‘Okay, as much as I enjoyed having my face on CatCo magazine I don’t really want it on a wanted poster. Hopefully nobody will notice until we’re all done.’

‘Great.’ Lena looked down at Kara and their eyes met. Kara smiled but didn’t move.

‘Can I get down now?’

‘Oh right. Yeah.’ Kara slowly lowered Lena back onto her feet and steadied her. ‘Sorry.’ Kara bashfully turned away and pulled open the door for Lena. Without coordinating with each other, or even really thinking about it individually, the duo found themselves sneaking through the corridors like cartoon characters. Did it make less noise? Nobody knows. Probably not. But they were exaggeratedly tiptoeing towards the stairs nonetheless.

Kara’s ears pricked as she heard the soft thudding of rubber soles getting closer, just around the corner kind of closer. She grabbed the nearest door handle, pushed hard enough to snap the lock and pulled Lena in behind her.

‘What-‘ Lena began to whisper before Kara put a hand over her mouth. Whistling began to bounce down the corridor and Lena understood. Kara slowly lowered her hand and the stood quietly waiting for the whistling to dwindle away. ‘How did you even know someone was coming?’ Lena said in hushed tones.

‘Oh… good hearing I guess.’ Kara ducked her head out the door and checked both ways before continuing the exaggerated stealth walk to the stairwell.

When the sign in the stairwell read ‘14th floor’ Lena was ready to just let the assassin win.

‘Kara, is there a reason we aren’t using the elevator?’ Kara glanced over her shoulder and saw the aching in Lena’s expression. She looked up, counting the remaining floors and knew that the stairs had probably been a poor choice. She discretely scanned the floor with x-ray vision and found it to be mercifully free of security.

‘Come on.’ Kara held out her hand for Lena and pulled her through the door and straight to the nearest elevator.

‘We aren’t very good at this whole crime thing, are we?’

‘Maybe not. But I think that’s a good thing.’ Kara chuckled.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Can you imagine them as criminal masterminds?  
They are both so smart and well, Kryptonian powers certainly make crime easy. But remember when they couldn’t even keep my surprise birthday party a secret because they didn’t want to lie to me?_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

 

When the elevator stopped at the top Lena was at last in vaguely familiar territory. She might not have liked Edge, in fact she positively disliked Morgan Edge, but she was a business woman who could make money by working with him. She knew this floor of the building. She led Kara straight to the roof access stairwell, not particularly thrilled by the thought of more stairs.

On the roof she was met with a significant amount of disappointment. The sniper had rudely decided not to leave behind a signed photograph of themselves, worse still they hadn’t left behind anything. That rather scuppered the plan to track down her would be assassin. Lena stepped to the edge of the rooftop and stared at L-Corp in the distance. The winds were stronger up in the skyline of National City and they ferociously whipped against her face.

She had stood against her brother and publicly condemned him. She had moved headquarters and changed the company name. But it wasn’t enough. She would never be free of her brother’s legacy or his desire to see her demise. To lose her brother to his insanity was a near constant stab to her chest, but knowing he wanted her dead was the knife twisting at a torturous pace. She might never recover from the pain and damage he caused and she could almost see L-Corp crumbling on the horizon. All the good she could do with the company didn’t matter if she wasn’t around to do it. _This wind is making my eyes water._

There was a scratching metallic sound behind her and she turned to see Kara on her hands and knees, digging around under the rim of a ventilation shaft. Kara looked up with a wide grin on her face and held up shiny golden bullet casing on the end of her pen.

‘Kara,’ awe filled her face and voice ‘how did you even know to look there?’ Rising to her feet Kara shrugged.

‘Just thought I’d check all the hiding places.’ Her grin widened as she looked at the small metal object. ‘We have evidence!’ Kara excitedly bounced toward Lena and wrapped her in a tight hug. ‘We are really investigating, and we are really going to stop people trying to kill you.’ Lena let out a wet laugh and a single tear, that was definitely caused by the cold wind, broke free. She gripped Kara’s shoulders firmly and felt that safe sunshine radiating from her. The chill winds of National City’s skies were completely thawed by Kara and everything she represented. Lena subtly wiped away the tear before Kara could see it and reluctantly let her go.

‘Come on partner, it can’t be a coincidence the shot came from one of my company’s biggest rival’s rooftop. Let’s check out Edge’s office while we’re here.’

‘I don’t know if we should.’ Kara said nervously. ‘What if we get caught? We sort of had an excuse for coming to the roof, but his office?’

‘Then we best not get caught. Come on.’ Lena tugged on Kara’s hand and before Kara knew what was happening she was stood outside Morgan Edge’s office while Lena tried to pick the lock.

‘You know how to pick locks?’

‘Yes, of course…’ Lena looked up at Kara and quirked her bottom lip to the side. ‘In theory.’ After a few minutes of fumbling with a bobby pin in the lock Lena sighed in defeat ‘I could have done something about this if he’d just had electronic locks.’ The sad look of disappoint on Lena’s face was too much for Kara to look at for long.

‘Let me have a go.’ Lena stood up and handed the pin to Kara. ‘Keep look out for me.’ Kara chuckled. She pretended to fumble with the lock until Lena glanced away, then she broke the lock and hustled Lena in before she could notice the lock hadn’t exactly been deftly picked.

‘Impressive.’ Lena said with a smirk. ‘Now, what are you up to Edge?’

While Lena flicked through the papers on Edge’s desk Kara nervously looked around the room. Lena stopped shuffling papers and searched the room for a locked filing cabinet. _Even Edge isn’t stupid enough to leave the incriminating paperwork sat on his desk._ With Lena distracted by the locked cabinet Kara x-rayed the room over her glasses. She did have to admit that the sniper nest location was suspicious. And the shaky finger of suspicion thrust harder in Edge’s direction when Kara realised there was a secret room hidden in the office. A legitimate business man has no need for a secret room in his office, fact.

It didn’t take Kara long to realise the lamp on the side wasn’t actually wired up and the switch would open the wall up. But she couldn’t very well walk straight up to it and flip the switch. That would be suspicious too. She nervously wrung her hands and shifted her weight from one foot to the other. Lena was getting increasingly frustrated with the locked cabinet and Kara used the noise as cover for her to “stumble” to the side and knock the switch.

‘Kara are you okay?’ Lena’s head snapped up immediately with concern in her eyes.

‘Yeah, I’m fine.’ She smiled brilliantly as the wall behind her slid open. She looked back briefly before fixing her gaze on Lena again. ‘Err… Tada?’ A sinister grin appeared on Lena’s face as she paced toward Kara and it was honestly a little disconcerting.

‘Kara, I could kiss you. You clumsy little genius.’ Lena slipped straight past Kara and into a strange room with a wall of screens. ‘What on Earth is this for?’

‘Beats me. Kinda weird to hide a room of TV screens though.’ The distinctive sound of the elevator dinging outside the office alerted the pair to company on the floor. Kara gripped Lena’s forearm, pulled her out of the hidden room, flipped the switch to seal it away again and quick marched her to the stairwell. They slipped down a floor before hopping into the elevator and fleeing their crime scene. Leaving the door to Edge’s office wide open and papers scattered haphazardly.

The duo didn’t stop until they were a block away. Lena gulped for air but laughed with Kara when their eyes met.

‘We really are terrible at this.’ Lena said between laughs.

‘Speak for yourself. I just got us out of there.’ Lena put on a mask of mock offence and bumped Kara’s shoulder with her own.

‘Who froze all the cameras? You would never have made it to the roof without me.’

‘What happened to “clumsy little genius”?’ Lena lightly thumped Kara’s arm as she began to walk away.

‘Don’t worry kid, you’ll get the hang of this.’ Kara’s brow crinkled as she trailed after Lena.

‘You know I’m older than you right?’

‘I hope you don’t think that makes me your sidekick.’ Lena said with a sly grin.

‘Equals, always.’ Kara held out her pinky finger as they walked. Lena hooked it with hers proudly.

‘Always.’ A moment of silence fell between them as they continued walking and let their hands separate again. ‘So what are we going to do with the bullet casing?’ Kara tapped her index finger on her chin and twisted her lips.

‘Uh, I might know someone that can do something with it…’

‘I thought you didn’t have police contacts yet?’

‘Well, it’s not exactly police and she’s not exactly a contact.’

‘Mysterious.’ Lena drawled.

‘My sister… she’s umm, FBI.’ Kara worried her lip, explaining this to Alex was going to be tricky. And not explaining it would mean no movement in their case.

‘You don’t look too sure about that Kara.’

‘Oh.’ She let out a sighing laugh. ‘No, she definitely is. It’s just she probably won’t be happy I’m doing this.’ There was a spark of self-loathing in Lena’s eye instantly. Her walls came up and her voice was icier than it had been even on her first meeting with Kara.

‘Because it’s illegal, or because I’m a Luthor?’ Kara heard the chill and immediately felt guilt roil through her. What made it worse was that she couldn’t lie and deny it. Alex would definitely be furious that Kara had so suddenly put herself in the life of a Luthor. Kara struggled to find the right words. She realised they might not exist.

‘I should get home.’ Lena’s clipped tone cute through Kara.

‘Let me walk with you. It’s late and you shouldn’t be on your own at the moment anyway.’

‘I’ll be fine.’ Lena stalked away, leaving Kara suffering from emotional whiplash. _Lena isn’t safe._ Amongst the confusing mess of thoughts, there was one single statement breaking through. _Lena isn’t safe._ She knew she had to fix things with Lena as Kara, but maybe the only way to protect her that night was by not being Kara. _Lena isn’t safe._ She ducked into an alley and re-emerged as Supergirl.

Her footsteps thudded lightly as she touched down a few strides behind Lena.

‘Kara, I don’t need you to protect me.’ Who knew seven such simple words could cut so deep and sting so badly? Well, Kara knew now. But she wasn’t Kara.

‘I’m not who you were expecting I guess.’ Lena glanced over her shoulder and spun towards Supergirl in surprise.

‘Supergirl. You’re quite right.’ She fell into step with Lena as they walked through the city.

‘I hope you’ll let me walk you home Miss Luthor. It makes it easier to stop bullets if I know they are coming.’ Lena gave her a tight-lipped smile and shrugged. There was an awkward silence between them and Kara’s mind twisted as she tried to figure out how to apologise to Lena. ‘I just realised that makes it sound like I think you’re going to be firing bullets. I don’t. I don’t think that.’

‘I know what you meant.’ Lena replied shortly. She sighed. ‘Sorry, that was rude. I’m just… frustrated I guess.’ Supergirl smiled at Lena in a way that she hoped was an invitation for her to continue speaking. ‘How close are you and Kara?’

‘Uh-‘ Supergirl rubbed the back of her neck. ‘We know each other pretty well.’ Lena gave her a half smile.

‘Friends close or…?’

‘Yeah, friends.’

‘Right.’ Lena sighed and went quiet again. Supergirl’s lips twisted in thought.

‘You’re her friend too.’

‘Am I?’ Lena said dryly.

‘Of course you are. You think she shares doughnuts with just anyone?’ That dragged a chuckle out of Lena.

‘She really can put them away. Her figure amazes me really.’ Supergirl’s cheeks tinged pink and she was grateful the night time blanketed them. ‘Do you think I can do it? Do you think I can change the way the world sees the Luthor name?’

‘I think you could do anything you wanted to Miss Luthor.’ Lena’s head tilted to appraise the superhero walking beside her. There was nothing but sincerity shining in Supergirl’s eyes and it baffled Lena.

‘You-…’ Lena swallowed down her worries and pushed past her walls. ‘You and Kara, you both see beyond my name. I’ve never had that. It gives me the strength to keep going.’

‘You’re strong enough on your own Miss Luthor, but I’m glad I help in a way.’

‘But what if the Luthor name just drags you down. You can fight it.’ Lena laughed and it sounded hollow. ‘Superman showed that. But what if the Luthor name gets Kara hurt? She’s so good I could never forgive myself if I’m just pulling her into the danger aimed at me.’

‘She’s tougher than you think. And she knows what she’s getting herself into.’

‘Does she though?’

‘She wears glasses, she’s not blind.’ Lena smiled and felt herself relax a little.

‘How did you and Kara meet?’

‘We… umm… we just seemed to keep turning up in the same places I guess.’

‘She does seem to run head first at trouble.’ Their pace slowed as they reached Lena’s building and Lena turned to Supergirl. ‘Thank you. For listening to me and for checking on me. You didn’t have to do that.’

‘Happy to, Miss Luthor. And please, remember to keep your blinds closed.’ Supergirl waited for Lena to enter the building before drifting to the stars. She floated aimlessly above the clouds for a while before heading home.

* * *

 

Having cleared her head, the night before Kara woke up ready to attack the day, and anyone who was going to even so much as think about harming Lena Luthor. Alex however, was not ready for Kara’s high energy levels. Not before her morning coffee anyway. So, after having the door slammed in her face Kara stood in line at Noonan’s.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Noonan’s was not an L-Corp subsidiary at the time. Just the gangs favourite coffee place._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

 

Kara’s fingers twitched, desperate to message Lena. She had told herself that apologies were done face to face and that Lena might not be ready yet. Which was excellent reasoning. It just didn’t work.

 **[Kara: 07:37]** I’m really sorry.

 **[Kara: 07:37]** :( I know you’re just Lena and you’re not your brother. But Alex doesn’t know yet.

 **[Kara: 07:38]** I’m going to go and see her now. And I’ll pout at her until she has to help us. And once she meets you she’ll see you like I do.

Three texts was enough. Any more and it’d be weird, especially without a response. She collected her coffees and started back towards Alex’s place.

 **[Kara: 07:49]** I hope you have a good day :)

Four texts was enough. Alex was much more inviting when Kara brought coffee. As the pair of them curled up on Alex’s sofa Kara checked her phone for a response from Lena one last time. Unsurprisingly Alex caught the disappointment on Kara’s face.

‘Who’s not texting you?’ Kara put her phone down and looked up guiltily.

‘A new friend, I accidentally said something to upset her.’ Kara recognised the questioning look on Alex’s face and knew she was in trouble if she didn’t change the topic quickly. She needed to ease Alex into the idea of her friendship with Lena. She pulled the bullet casing from her pocket and hoped she’d done the right thing wrapping it in a tissue. ‘Will you check this out for me?’

‘Where did you get it?’

‘A umm… crime scene.’ Alex’s eyes narrowed.

‘And why did you take it rather than pointing it out to police?’

‘Well…’ Kara’s head dipped as her fingers knotted together. ‘The police haven’t investigated it. And they probably won’t. So, I did.’

‘On your own?’ Alex was studying every little movement Kara made and hoarding all the information she could glean from it. When Kara didn’t answer her lips pressed together and her jaw clenched.

‘You’re investigating that attempted hit on Lena Luthor yesterday, aren’t you? And you’re obviously not doing it alone… you’re **working with Lena Luthor?!’** Kara cringed at the angry frustration in Alex’s voice.

‘Yes?’

‘Kara! What the fuck?!’

‘She’s a good person Alex. She doesn’t deserve to be shot at and have nobody care.’

‘She’s a Luthor, Kara. I’m not saying no one should care about her getting shot at, but it shouldn’t be you of all people. I told you to keep your head down around her.’

‘I know and I’m s-‘ Kara shook her head ‘I’m not sorry. She’s not like them. Lena is smart and good, and she doesn’t look at me and see a dangerous alien. I know her Alex and she’s a Luthor only by name.’ Alex was taken aback by Kara’s fierce defence and took a moment to compose her thoughts.

‘She doesn’t know you’re Supergirl does she?’

‘No… I don’t think so.’ Alex swatted at Kara’s arm.

‘What do you mean you don’t know?’

‘Well she keeps saying these things and they sound like she’s hinting she knows, but how could she know?’

‘You’re the one that’s convinced she knows Lena Luthor. You tell me?’ Alex was good at turning Kara’s words around on her, really good. Kara was not about to make it easy for her to do again, so she carefully moved through the facts in her mind before continuing.

‘No, she doesn’t know.’ Lena separated Kara’s identities too well in conversation, she talked to Supergirl with understanding and respect. But she spoke to Kara Danvers with warmth and honesty.

‘Good.’ Alex snatched up the bullet casing and stashed it in her jacket pocket for later. ‘I’ll get someone to look at this later. Just how exactly did you end up “investigating” this with Lena Luthor?’

 _Oh boy. This conversation is just the gift that keeps on giving…_ Kara adjusted her glasses awkwardly and took a deep breath.

‘Who’s asking? Agent Danvers, Supergirl’s handler, or Alex, Kara’s big sister?’ Alex folded her legs underneath herself on the sofa and wrapped an arm around Kara.

‘Big sister.’

‘We’re sort of an investigative team.’ _Why stop now? Just rush it all out._ ‘She’s giving me exclusive access to L-Corp and I get to write about anything we uncover. And I help her clean house. She wants to get rid of whatever is left of Lex in the company.’  Alex sighed heavily.

‘You really trust her?’

‘She’s given me no reason not to.’

‘You mean besides being a-‘

‘-Alex!’

‘Alright, alright. Is she the friend you pissed off?’

‘Yeah.’ Kara said in breathy despondence. Alex squeezed tighter around Kara.

‘What’d you say?’

‘I told her you’d be annoyed I was working with her because she was a Luthor.’ Alex laughed.

‘Well you weren’t wrong. But surely she get’s that my opinion isn’t your fault, right?’

‘I think it was more that I didn’t say much of anything after that. She’s maybe worried the Luthor name scares me too.’

‘You? Scared? Never.’ Kara laughed and rested her head on Alex’s shoulder.

‘Thanks Alex.’

‘What for?’ Alex laid her forehead on Kara’s head, her voice getting slightly muffled by Kara’s hair.

‘You’re being surprisingly okay with all of this.’

‘Kar, you’re the happiest, friendliest person I know. But you don’t really have a lot of friends. I’m always here for you, you know that. I may not be happy with the person you’ve chosen to befriend but I’m happy you have someone other than Winn and James. It’s not healthy to only be friends with people who have been in love with you. It’ll give you a big head.’ Kara chuckled and grabbed for a cushion to hit Alex with.

‘You don’t have any friends!’ A well-aimed shot knocked the cushion out of Alex’s hand.

‘I’m a lone wolf.’ Alex grabbed another cushion and dummied a swing at Kara’s abdomen before swiping up to her face. The pair descended into cushion throwing silliness until they were interrupted by a call from the DEO on both of their phones.

* * *

 

The spikey alien had been an annoying hiccup in her day, but Kara was shooting back into the city to pretend like she had been there all morning when she remembered.

 **[Kara: 09:23]** Are we still having brunch today?

Kara quietly slipped into the chair at her desk and neatly organised her desk to mentally prepare herself for work.

 **[Lena: 09:37]** I can’t.

Well, that was sure to wreck Kara’s productivity for the day. She was considering whether it would be okay or not for her to respond with a sad emoji when her phone buzzed again.

 **[Lena: 09:39]** Lunch?

Kara’s grin was wide enough to draw the attention of James.

‘Someone’s in a good mood today.’ Kara simply nodded enthusiastically as she typed out her response.

 **[Kara: 09:39]** Yes! Where shall I meet you?

James watched as Kara’s eyes filled with joy and her knee bounced with excitement. Her focus on the little screen in front of her didn’t seem to be going to shift anytime soon. He quietly left her new assignment on her desk and slid away.

 **[Lena: 09:40]** I’ll come to you.

 **[Lena: 09:40]** If that’s okay.

 **[Lena: 09:40]** We can meet outside your office if you’d rather.

Kara had begun to type her response as soon as the first message popped up and instead of altering her message she just kept typing.

 **[Kara: 09:41]** Great! Of course it’s okay. Lena! I would be proud to be seen with you in the office.

 **[Kara: 09:42]** How many other reporters do you think go to lunch with their billionaire friend?

 **[Kara: 09:42]** Not that I’m only friends with you because of the billionaire thing. I’d be friends with you anyway.

 **[Lena: 09:43]** I knew what you meant. I’ll see you later.

 **[Kara: 09:43]** :)  **♥**

Suddenly Kara couldn’t wait to get stuck into her work, it was the only way her morning could possibly go fast enough. At midday Kara’s phone rang and she sullenly answered, expecting to be called in to deal with an alien that would make her late for lunch at best.

‘Hey Alex, what’s up?’

‘ _Hey, I’ve finished with the bullet casing.’_ Alex paused nervously. ‘ _It was a pretty unusual casing actually, self-made. The guy is a pro Kara.’_

‘What does that mean?’

‘ _Listen, there’s been some chatter about one of the most wanted hitmen being in town. This would match his MO.’_

‘Right… What’s his name?’

‘ _John Corben._ ’

‘How do I catch him?’

‘ _Kar he’s on the most wanted board for a reason. He’s not easy to catch. Maybe you should give what you have to the police and leave it to them. If one of those bullets flies at you at the wrong time… your secret could be outed.’_ There was a loud banging in the background of the call and Alex’s attention was diverted briefly. ‘ _I’ve gotta go_ , j _ust don’t do anything stupid okay?’_

‘Okay. Love you.’

‘ _Love you.’_

 

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_When I realised how much of their story they had left out I started asking Aunt Alex to fill in the blanks. She was not always very helpful. Fortunately, Aunt Sam loves this dumb story. A lot of what she told me had been told to her by Alex, who had learned a lot during sister nights, so it was mostly accurate, I think. But I had to double check with Aunt Alex at this point because I couldn’t believe she thought saying ‘don’t do anything stupid’ would ever have worked.  
I was wrong. She did say it and I laughed for almost a week every time I thought about it._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_


	3. No Crazy Plans Here

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Earlier than usual this week because I know this weekend is going to kill me and didn't want to leave you all hanging.  
> But that's also why this chapter is shorter :/

Everyone is capable of great thought. For some it doesn’t happen very often. And for most, when great thoughts do strike it’s when they are in the shower or on the toilet, so that by the time they get chance to make a note of it, the thought has fled completely. Something about tiled walls must bounce the escaping ideas right back and allow them time to fully form.

Lena was never just most people though. Lena’s every day was filled with great thoughts and frankly, a lot of over thinking.

Earlier she had spent fourteen minutes deciding to halt her budding friendship with Kara in its tracks. A simple “I can’t” and the distancing could begin. For two excruciating minutes Lena had committed to pushing Kara away. It would protect Kara from danger and disappointment, and it would protect Lena’s heart from yet another loss. She sent the text and turned to her paperwork, determined to remove Kara from her thoughts entirely.

But neatly tucked away on a shelf, almost out of sight, sat Kara’s clothes from the night before. The pastels were like a foghorn in the greyscale room, drawing Lena in and warning her at once. She turned her head and stared down the soft cotton cardigan. Kara crashed into her mind and washed everything out. There was nothing but clarity. The usual cacophony of thoughts ceased, the cutting barbs of Lillian Luthor silenced, the self-loathing dissipated without so much as a puff of smoke. Lena’s mind had never been so quiet.

She had picked up her phone, tapped out a quick “Lunch?” and hadn’t questioned her decision. Kara was apparently something she was not going to be giving up without some kind of ten step programme.

And so, late morning had found Lena sat in her office studying a problem. Usually this would have entailed Lena hunched over her desk poring over blueprints, financials or contracts. And usually she would know that the answer was staring at her as long as she found the right angle with which to look at it. Often times the right angle was with one eye blearily opening as she rested her head on her arm and spittle dried on her cheek from an impromptu nap. These kinds of problems were brain teasers, something to methodically work through and determine the logical answer. But she faced a different kind of problem as she sat on the sofa holding a white knight up to her eye line.

Kara Danvers was a conundrum of the completely baffling variety. She wanted to be Lena’s friend. Already Lena was in unfamiliar seas as she walked through the situation, friendship was not something she had navigated before. Lena of course knew what the word “friend” meant. _Of course_. But just to be sure she had all the necessary facts she had looked up the definition.

**Friend** (noun) – a person with whom one has a bond of mutual affection, typically one exclusive of sexual or family relations.

Kara was not related to her, check. And Lena couldn’t imagine a world in which someone as perfectly vivacious as Kara would be interested in pursuing a romantic relationship with a Luthor, so… check, reluctantly. But other than that, it hadn’t really helped all that much. The definition certainly provided no step by step instructions on how to maintain a friendship. It told her nothing of how to **be** a friend.

And more frustratingly, even if she could nail down the specifics of friendship, should she? Having someone to really _talk_ to sounded positively enticing, but eventually the Luthor name would scare Kara away or worse still get Kara killed? Surely it was less painful to continue with no friends than to allow Kara closer and lose her. Lena was certain that losing Kara was an inevitability.

Running her thumb over the white knight in her hand she pondered its importance in her life. Lex had waxed poetic about the knight when he had taught her to play chess. It had been more than just the L shaped movement that appealed to him. The knight could bound over any obstacle and when cornered it was at its strongest. She had developed a kind of second-hand love of the piece while Lex told her stories of knights fighting for the people and slaying dangerous beasts.

When Lena grew older, her fondness for the piece remained, but her appetite for reading led her to a love of the white knight in particular. However, it wasn’t until Kara had sat across from her, asking Lena all about L-Corp’s new focus, that she had begun to see _herself_ as the white knight. The knight-errant, roaming the lands in search of ways to prove her virtues and champion the Luthor name for good.

  _~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_When I said she was prone to great thought on a daily basis, I wasn’t lying. But as you know, sometimes she can miss the truly obvious. And somehow, despite her love of the knight-errant figure, she completely ignored the “adventures in pursuit of courtly love” aspect of it…_

_Honest to Rao she did not even consider the possibility that she wanted more than friendship as she sat staring at the future love of her life, thinking about being a white knight... Dumbass._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

 With lunch looming she was no closer to solving the Kara Danvers conundrum. She knew only two things, one: she would not be giving up Kara Danvers any time soon. Two: with Kara cheering for her, she just might be able to become a force for good. Meaning, securing Kara’s friendship was top priority. Green and healthy was wiped from her lunch time plans.

* * *

 Upon entering the CatCo building Lena became a strange concoction of steely boardroom confidence and shy school girl anxiety. Security personnel withered under her gaze, she pressed past them and straight into the elevator she knew had always been for Cat Grant only. One employee had tried to stop her, but she had simply cocked her eyebrow and watched them wilt as the doors closed.

With each passing floor Lena’s nerves grew. The pizza box resting on her flattened palm wavered slightly as she adjusted her hold on the coffee cups in her other hand. Some of the excessive amount of cream was beginning to escape around the rim of Kara’s. She inhaled deeply and let it out shakily. The reflective surface of the door helped her focus. Her outfit as always was perfectly put together, not a hair was out of place and her precisely coloured lips lured the eye to the plum hue. Her battle armour was securely in place. She could do this.

The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. Her passive mask was in place but those brave enough to stare at her were distracted long before their eyes made it to her face. Those towering black stilettos gracefully stepped into the office and eyes were gradually drawn up her snowy white calves. Lena caught sight of Kara, who seemed deep in thought as she tapped her pen against her lips. James, one of the few brazen enough to have ceased working and become an audience to Lena’s entrance, stood in open mouthed shock.

When Lena threw him a frosty glance he cleared his throat and puffed his chest.

‘Miss Luthor, that elevator is not for general use.’ Lena inwardly scoffed but remained visibly unfazed.

‘Well, it’s a good thing I don’t generally use it then, isn’t it?’

‘What are you doing here?’ Lena chose to ignore the distaste in James voice and gave him her best business smile.

‘Lena!’ Kara excitedly bound over to her, eyes mostly focused on Lena rather than the pizza.

‘I’m meeting a friend for lunch.’ Lena said, unable to keep the smug tones from seeping out. James stuttered over a couple of syllables before shrugging and looking to Kara.

‘Kara, I didn’t know you were friends with Miss Luthor.’

‘Are you kidding? Of course I am. Look she brought me pizza.’ Kara said gleefully. There is a 99% chance that Kara was maybe overcompensating for her previous stumble. No way was she going to stand silently again while Lena thought the worst. And Lena wasn’t so oblivious to social interactions that she didn’t recognise this. But it warmed her all the same. _Pizza was a good choice._

Kara’s over sweetened caramel frappuccino chose that exact moment to dribble down Lena’s wrist.

‘Kara, do you think I could put this down? It’s about to ruin my jacket.’

‘Oh, shoot.’ Kara startled into action and took both drinks from Lena before leading her to the balcony. James was left confused and slightly irritated as he sloped back to his office.

* * *

Kara attacked the pizza with a kind of fervour that Lena had seen in the Luthor house, but never directed at food. Around a very large mouthful of food Kara gulped caramel frappuccino and excitedly told Lena of the latest development in their case.

‘So, I got Alex to examine the casing,’ another gulp of syrupy liquid, ‘good news, it’s custom made and we know who shot at you!’ Lena chuckled at the puppy like excitement as she took another surprisingly large bite of pizza. ‘He’s this big deal international hitman, Lex really splashed out on the whole killing you front,’ Kara said, muffled slightly by her stuffed cheeks.

‘I must remember to send my thanks,’ Lena drawled. She desperately wanted to ask how her conversation with Alex had gone, but she wasn’t sure she was ready to tackle such a touchy subject so early in their friendship. ‘Do we know anything else about him?’

‘His name is John Corben,’ Kara paused to wash down her food, ‘oh, and he’s on some most wanted list or something.’

‘Oh, so he shouldn’t be too much for two professional detectives like us to take on…’ Lena took a dainty bite of pizza and smiled wryly at Kara.

‘You think we should stop and let the police handle it?’

‘I think that would be the sensible thing to do…’ a mischievous glint sparked in her eye, ‘but… where would the fun be in that? We’ve got to earn our place in the halls of dynamic female duo history somehow. And if we can’t track down a man that is literally following me around, we should start by taking some tips from Dora the Explorer.’

‘Lena, that’s not funny.’ Kara actually started scanning nearby rooftops.

‘It’s a little funny.’ Kara’s lips pursed as she tried to refuse a laugh.

‘Okay, it’s a little funny. But what if this all goes wrong? You could really get hurt Lena.’

‘I could really get hurt if we _don’t_ do anything.’

‘… Good point,’ Kara reluctantly conceded. ‘So how are we supposed to catch a hitman that even the FBI can’t find?’ Lena’s head cocked to one side and her lips twisted.

‘Well… you’re probably not going to like this idea,’ she paused to nervously pout at Kara. ‘We could hire him…’ Kara’s face straightened.

‘You’re right, I don’t like that idea.’

‘I don’t think we have many options.’

‘But… leading the person trying to kill you, right to you? Lena,’ she pouted. Lena anxiously toyed with her slice of pizza. ‘If we’re going to do this, we have to have a plan. We can’t just run into this blind like we did with Galaxy Communications.’

‘Absolutely.’ Lena nodded with mock seriousness and held back a laugh.

‘Okay, so do you know how to hire a hitman?’

‘Uh…’ Lena cleared her throat and averted her eyes from Kara’s innocent face. ‘I might know some people… that could help in that regard.’

Ever since Lena had sat down to lunch with Kara, her self-doubt had miraculously silenced. There was an easiness to their conversation that soothed her mind. But even Kara’s bright eyes couldn’t fight back the overwhelming questioning Lena felt as she worried over Kara’s reaction.

‘…That makes sense I guess. You’re a pretty powerful woman, with powerful friends.’

‘More like acquaintances…’

‘Right. So, if we hired him… how would we trap him?’

‘Well,’ Lena ran her fingers around her cup idly, ‘he’d have to meet us for payment, right?’

‘I guess.’

‘Okay, so I could pick a really public place to meet, wait for him to get close enough and use my stun gun to take him down. I could whip something up in the lab to make it even easier.’ Kara looked at her with unease.

‘It’s sort of a… plan.’ To call it a plan was very generous of Kara. ‘But… maybe we should work on it. I mean for starters I don’t think you should be there for the meet. I just think it would be too dangerous,’ she tried to give Lena a smile but it came out twisted with nerves.

‘I’m not entirely comfortable with the idea of you meeting a hitman on your own, I’d rather it was me.’ James tapped on the window and held up a piece of paper covered in red alteration marks. Kara glanced down at her watch.

‘Shoot, I’ve got to get back to work. We’ll talk about this more, don’t do anything crazy. We’re under strict instructions from Alex.’

‘Of course. All crazy plans on hold until further notice.’ She stood up to put her coat on and found herself wrapped up into a tight hug.

‘We’ll get him Lena, I promise.’ Lena melted into the hug and breathed in a deep lungful of Kara’s shampoo.

* * *

 Kara was having a great afternoon. Or at least she felt like she was having a great afternoon. She had a stomach full of pizza, she was pretty sure she had repaired her friendship with Lena and the song stuck in her head was a Disney classic. She didn’t think too much about why she had ‘A Friend Like Me’ in her head but she definitely bopped along to the tune while she rewrote her article twice, stopped a rampaging alien and filed the obligatory paperwork that made her want to tear her hair out. So, maybe Kara was blissfully ignorant of just how good an afternoon it was.

And when her phone rang, with Lena’s name flashing, her afternoon got even better. For about four point two seconds.

‘Lena, hi!’

‘ _Kara… hi’_ Lena whispered. ‘ _So… I may not have put **all** the crazy plans on hold.’ _ Kara instantly froze in a panic, stuttering over indistinguishable letters as she tried to listen in on Lena’s heartbeat. ‘ _Kara?’_ She shook out of her stupor after finding the steady rhythm.

‘Yeah, sorry. What did you do?’ There was a tense pause and then Lena cleared her throat.

‘ _Well, I reached out to my contacts and set up a meet with Corben...’_

‘Lena!’ Kara jumped to her feet and dashed for the elevator. ‘Is this why you’re whispering? What happened?’

_‘Well I thought it would be smart to make the meet really public so he wouldn’t try anything…’_ there was a strange rushing of water in the background and Lena paused for a moment. ‘ _so, I picked the park. But then I got here and realised it’s **really** open. He could just shoot me,’_ Lena said calmly.

‘Well yeah Lena, that’s why we were supposed to make a plan!’ The frustration slipping into Kara’s voice was definitely warranted, but she was quick to tamp it down, sensing Lena’s disguised distress. ‘Where are you Lena? I’m coming to get you.’

‘ _The public toilets in the city park…’_ Well, that explained the rushing water sound. Hiding in a public toilet, particularly one poorly maintained by local government, was not Lena’s proudest moment.

‘Okay, I’m really nearby. I’ll be there before you know it.’ Kara was not nearby at all. The elevator finally made it to the ground floor and she sprinted out the building, into the nearest miserable alley she could find. She neatly bundled her clothes into a ball and shot into the sky gripping it tightly. Above the park she scanned the area for somewhere to change. Rather inconveniently Lena was hunkered down in the best option.

Kara huffed in frustration as she crashed into an exceptionally large and sprawling hydrangea bush to wiggle and shuffle back into her khakis and sweater. She scraped her hair back into a ponytail and poked her head out the bush.

A small pair of eyes stared up at her.

‘Oh, hello…’ she nervously said, shuffling the frames of her glasses. With an ice cream melting over one hand and another holding a frisbee the boy eyed her suspiciously. ‘Oh, wow look. An elephant!’ Kara pointed behind the boy and waited for him to turn his head before zipping out of sight.

She slowed down to a normal human speed-walking pace and ducked into the public restrooms.

‘Lena?’ A cubicle door creaked open and Lena peeked out, sagging in relief when she saw Kara.

‘Wow, you really were close by.’ She looked down at her watch and squinted suspiciously at Kara who put on her most angelically innocent face. But true to her terrible at lying form, she was not the most convincing actress. Suddenly realising she should pretend to look out of breath.

‘Oh, yeah,’ she exaggeratedly panted, ‘I ran all the way here.’

‘Through a hedge by the looks of it…’ Lena reached up and plucked a twig from Kara’s hair.

‘Mmhmm,’ she nervously laughed, ‘took a short cut.’ The panting had abruptly stopped, raising Lena’s suspicions further. ‘Umm, so… what do we do about the assassin you invited to the park?’ Slick, turn the guilt back around on Lena, a _really_ proud moment for Kara…

‘Right,’ Lena shook away her speculating stare and swallowed loudly, ‘I’m supposed to sit on a bench holding this,’ she held up a small square of orange material.

‘Okay,’ Kara said casually as she grabbed for the fabric only to have Lena pull it away.

‘What are you doing?’

‘Well, I’m going to meet him. Then I’ll catch him and you can finally relax.’

‘Kara, no. I can’t put you in that kind of danger.’ Kara reached out and whipped the fabric from Lena’s grasp just a little quicker than humanly possible.

‘And I can’t let you stay in that kind of danger.’ She took a confidence boosting inhale of unpleasant smelling air, straightened her shoulders and set her jaw menacingly… or at least that’s what she was going for.

Kara mentally prepared herself for meeting a dangerous hitman, while dressed as Kara Danvers. She walked with an incredibly out of place swagger and her mind flicked to ‘Ridin’ by Chamillionaire. She tried her best to channel the music rather than sing along to it, because even she knew that knowing the lyrics and selling the lyrics were two different things.

Her shoulders sank and her foot stopped mid-air. She pulled her phone from her pocket and tapped out a text.

**[Kara: 16:48]** Which bench?

**[Lena: 16:48]** I was wondering how long it would be before you asked. By the pavilion, under the acer tree.

**[Kara: 16:49]** Right, right… acer tree?

**[Lena: 16:49]** The tree with red leaves.

Swagger back in place she strode to the bench and sat down, doing her best to imitate the “man spread”, arm slung across the back of the bench. Incredibly conspicuously waving the material along the wooden slats.

A quiet ring tone started playing underneath her and her face screwed up in confusion. She sunk off the bench and scrambled under it in rather ungainly fashion. A cheap phone had been taped to the underside. She pulled it away and fumbled over the buttons to accept the call but hit the reject button.

‘Fudge!’ She sighed and flopped back onto the seat in defeat. The ringtone started up again and this time she managed to answer. ‘Hello?’

‘You know the price?’ A gruff British accent asked.

‘Uh… yeah,’ the high pitch of Kara’s voice suggested otherwise but he continued.

‘Who’s the target?’

‘Err… I’ve changed my mind. Just now…’ The line went dead and Kara looked around nervously.

She bolted back to Lena and dejectedly told her their plan hadn’t exactly worked. Understatement. Lena anxiously knotted her fingers together and didn’t seem to be able to stop them fidgeting. She stared at the floor and puffed out some of her nervous energy before muttering so quietly that only Kara or Clark would ever have been able to hear her.

‘I’m scared to leave this building…’ Kara instinctively threw her arms around Lena and pulled her into a warm embrace. Her safe sunshine burnt away Lena’s nerves, almost completely.

‘I’ll get Supergirl.’ As Kara tried to pull away Lena reached out and grasped her wrist.

‘No, Kara wait.’ There was a tense moment when something like electricity ran through them and their eyes connected. It shot through their spines and tingled at their fingertips. Kara gulped and Lena stumbled over her words. ‘I’m- He’s probably, I mean, he would have left right? Would you- I’d rather you… walked with me,’ said the cool, calm and collected CEO.

Kara smiled at her as though she had just recited ‘Sonnet 18’ and eagerly held out her arm. Lena intertwined with it and her anxiety melted away as they stepped through the door together.

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_I like you to remember that yes, she does know all the words to Ridin’. And when you get back, if you need a good laugh, ask her to sing it. You will never laugh harder, she really gets into it._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

 ‘Thank you, Kara.’

‘That’s what friends are for.’

‘Rushing in to meet with a hitman?’

‘Okay, well maybe not exactly that. But helping you when you need me is friend behaviour, right?’

‘Yes, I suppose you’re right.’ Aha, Lena had something to add to her instruction manual for friendship. Screw that stupid dictionary definition, she would piece together the rules herself.

‘I usually am…’ she shrugged with a gleaming smile, ‘that’s just something you’re going to have to get used to.’

‘Then we are going to be agreeing on a lot of things, because I am always right.’ She tightened her arm around Kara’s and pulled their shoulders together as they casually walked through the park.

‘Not that being a genius CEO has given you a big head or anything.’

‘Absolutely not, it’s just a fact. For instance, I say that your heroics deserve dinner on me. And I know I’m right.’

‘Oh, Lena, you don’t have to do that.’

‘Maybe not, but I feel I should. And besides we still have to plan how to actually catch this guy. Think of it as my apology for not listening before.’ Lena put on her biggest pout and Kara melted at the sight, completely unable to say no.

‘Mmm, okay. But… nowhere too expensive.’

‘Done. Why don’t you choose where so I know it’s acceptable?’ In all honesty that small concession was more of a fact-finding endeavour than anything else. Lena was desperate to hoover up scraps of information about Kara wherever she could. _For purely platonic friendship-based reasons of course. How can I be a good friend if I don’t know everything about Kara?_

‘I’m taking you to my favourite restaurant in the whole city then.’

‘I’m honoured,’ Lena said with a smirk.

‘Best pot stickers in National City _and_ they give me a discount for bulk ordering.’ Kara’s eyes had lit up and Lena was beginning to see just how important food would be in her quest for Kara’s friendship.

As they left the park and Kara lead them through the streets, Lena soaked up the warmth emanating from Kara. It seemed like physical contact was an important part of friendship, Kara didn’t seem to able to tell a story without touching Lena’s shoulder or arm with a soft hand or rolling her head and letting it tap against Lena’s. Even when their linked arms separated because Kara had excitedly jumped in a theatrical telling of how she got the scar on her forehead, they had still continued walking so close that their shoulders rubbed against each other. Another thing for Lena’s list.

When they walked into Lo Feng’s Tasty Dish Restaurant they were greeted with excited smiles and a rush order was put on a first serving of pot stickers before they had even sat down. Lena couldn’t help the slight giggle about it all.

‘So, oh mighty Chinese food expert, what’s good here?’

‘Uh, everything!’ Obviously, this was Kara. ‘Hmm, they do crispy fried kale…’ Lena rolled her eyes.

‘It doesn’t have to be kale, Kara.’ Kara snickered in response and scrunched her face in thought.

‘Well, how about moo shu vegetables. That sounds like a Lena dish.’ Lena’s eyebrow raised.

‘Oh, and what pray tell makes something a “Lena dish”?’

‘Healthy and vegetably.’

‘Vegetably? Is that the description of a professional writer?’ Kara nodded profusely.

‘Absolutely, it’s a perfect word for Lena food.’

‘I’m beginning to feel like you think I’m a rabbit,’ Lena drawled.

‘… you _do_ like leafy green things and you _are_ cute and small.’ Lena could flirt with the best of them and she could withstand copious amounts of flattery without batting an eye. But from Kara? Cute? Her cheeks flushed so fast she practically felt her toes tingle with a lack of blood flow. Thankfully Kara was distracted by the waitress appearing at their table.

Lena fiddled with her wooden chopsticks on the table and sat dumbfounded at the sheer amount of food Kara was ordering before looking at Lena expectantly.

‘Oh, umm, moo shu vegetables please.’ She had thought to order something else just to show Kara she wasn’t completely dull but she was still too flustered to think straight. Though straight thinking was always subjective with Lena, especially around Kara.

The waitress left with a small smile and Lena’s thoughts immediately leapt from her mouth.

‘I’m not that small you know.’ She was more than relieved that was the thought that escaped rather than any of the other far less appropriate ones.

‘Lena… you weren’t wearing heels yesterday. You were so adorably small.’ _Good lord, is she doing that on purpose?_ _Probably not, she’s just a lovely and complimentary friend._ As a technicality Lena wasn’t entirely wrong. Kara was an oblivious idiot though her words were entirely heartfelt. Lena needed some way to stop getting complimented by Kara.

‘So, about that plan…’

Kara sighed and fumbled with the arm of her glasses.

‘Yeah?’

‘I think you’re going to like this idea even less than the last one,’ she said while trying to avoid eye contact.

‘Please tell me you aren’t about to suggest putting yourself in danger again.’

‘Well…’

‘Lena!’ she huffed and folded her arms grumpily.

A parade of wait staff trouped out of the kitchen with their food and they momentarily paused their conversation as Kara’s eyes shone with excitement. She clasped her hands together and bounced in her seat.

Once Kara had cleared a plate of pot stickers and begun tucking into her kung pao chicken she sighed and reached a hand across the table to Lena’s as it absentmindedly toyed with the chopsticks.

‘I just don’t want you getting hurt,’ she quietly said.

‘I know,’ she gave Kara a sad smile, ‘I just think that all the while I’m a target, maybe you could get hurt by accident.’ Kara’s eyes softened instantly and her grip of Lena’s hand tightened.

‘Well, let me hear your terrible plan then.’

Lena smiled tightly and shook her head.

‘My plans aren’t that bad.’ Kara responded with an expression of disbelief. ‘I’m just on a run of bad luck.’

‘Well you’re run of bad luck is making me question the whole genius thing you’ve got going on,’ Kara said while waving her chopsticks at Lena.

Lena raised her free hand to her chest exaggeratedly.

‘You wound me,’ she smiled good naturedly and continued, ‘I was actually going to suggest we asked your sister for help this time. I mean, the FBI wants to catch this guy anyway, right?’ Kara agreed, nervously, because Alex was absolutely an FBI agent and would definitely round up a team to protect Lena Luthor on a whim…

‘I was thinking maybe we could lure him out with a very public press conference, strategically located of course, and then maybe the FBI could catch him.’ Kara’s lips twisted in thought.

‘It’s not your worst idea I suppose… probably one of your better ones actually. I still don’t like it though. Using yourself as bait is dangerous.’

‘Well, I thought maybe you could ask Supergirl to help too. He can’t beat her.’ Right. Supergirl. She could definitely help her friend trap an international hitman as Kara Danvers while watching over the proceedings as Supergirl. She sunk back into her seat, slipping her hand away from Lena’s and knotting her fingers together. Her inner turmoil appeared on her face as a general hatred of the plan. ‘I guess we could find another way, it was just an idea.’

‘No, Lena. I _do_ hate the idea of you being bait but this is much more thought out than your last plan… and it might actually work.’

‘I’m sensing another but.’ But it made Kara’s stomach flip anxiously, but it made her ball her fists so tight that she left nail prints in her palms, but someone was playing ‘Waterfalls’ nearby and Kara couldn’t block it out.

‘It could be hard convincing Alex,’ she said with a sigh.

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Remember when you tried to convince Aunt Alex to lend you her 1962 Triumph Bonneville for spring break?  
Yeah, this probably wasn’t as difficult as that. But it’s a close one. I’m amazed Alex actually ever agreed, I’m far less surprised you did not ride away on her bike for spring break._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_


	4. Ringing Endorsement

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, just rushing this one in before my deadline.  
> It's been a very stressful week filled with plenty of awful writer's block but here's the next chapter.

When Kara and Lena parted ways that evening it was with a determined promise from Kara to try her best to persuade Alex. There was also a friendly hug that lasted just a little too long to be considered entirely platonic. The wait staff inside the restaurant watched them through the windows, squinting looks of confusion struggling to determine who had won the bet.

The soft comfort of Lena’s arms wrapped around her followed Kara as she skipped along the streets toward home. Or rather, it would be more accurate to describe it as a kind of Singing In The Rain inspired prance set to the music echoing in Kara’s head. OK Go were cycling through her mind singing ‘I Won’t Let You Down’, but that was just pure coincidence because of course it was her super hearing tuning into someone else playing it. She did pause for a brief moment to consider whether she should talk to Alex about her recently haywire hearing, but then the chorus kicked in again and she dramatically slid back into her light frolic up the stairs of her building.

Both the dancing and the song came to screeching halt when she caught sight of Alex leaning against her door, which was awfully strange… _How on Earth would the song just happen to stop right then?_ She bashfully walked the last few steps while being suspiciously appraised.

‘You’re in an awfully good mood,’ Alex’s voice filled with insinuation. Kara fumbled with the keys in the lock and nodded with an assenting hum. ‘You’re also apparently nervous to see me… what have you done?’

‘Nothing!’ Kara’s face snapped to meet Alex’s evaluating gaze. She wilted underneath it and slipped through the doorway, mumbling under her breath. ‘Technically _I_ didn’t do it, it was Lena… but it’s fine, everyone is still alive.’

‘I knew I shouldn’t have given you that information.’ Kara kicked off her shoes, dropped her bag to the ground and flopped over the back of her sofa to land face first in the cushions. Alex rolled her eyes and opened Kara’s fridge, gazing at the contents with disappointment. ‘So… are you going to tell me what you didn’t technically do?’

‘…No,’ came muffled from the crevices of the sofa and Kara burrowed deeper. She was desperately trying to figure out why she felt so awkward at the prospect of discussing Lena with Alex. She had been all for using her most convincing words and aggressively pouting at Alex when it had just been an idea, when it had just been her and Lena. Somehow all these crazy events seemed to have been simpler when Lena was there. Thinking back they were definitely crazy, befriending Lex Luthor’s little sister, unexpectedly crashing into L-Corp in full Supergirl regalia as though she were Kara Danvers, breaking into Galaxy Communications, trying to meet a hitman… It all made so much sense when Lena was looking at her.

But now…

She groaned and rolled over, seeing Alex collapse into the armchair next to her with a mug of tea cradled between her hands.

‘You know I’ll get it out of you eventually,’ she stated.

Kara let out a long-suffering sigh and began to sit upright. She folded her legs up in front of her and wrapped her arms tightly around them. She watched Alex take tentative sips of her drink and remembered what she had learned from her previous mistake. She reached forward and placed her hand over the top of Alex’s mug, stopping her from taking another mouthful.

‘Lena tried to hire John Corben so we could track him down.’ she rushed it out and winced in anticipation of Alex’s reaction. Her face remained unreadable.

‘And you, of course, stayed well away because I told you not to do anything stupid.’ Kara gulped, nervous guilt set on her face, and Alex’s jaw tightened. ‘Kara… what the actual fuck? I mean… are you trying to out yourself as Supergirl?’ Her face slipped into utter dismay and she slowly placed her mug on the coffee table.

‘Well… what was I supposed to do? Just leave her to deal with him on her own?’

‘Yes!’ Alex’s arms gestured wildly, ‘that is exactly what you should have done. She got herself into the mess, she’s got money and she’s got power. She can get herself out of the mess.’ Kara’s face instantly twisted into a determined anger.

‘She is being targeted by her own family Alex! She didn’t get herself into this mess, she’s just trying to make up for her brother’s mistakes and the police don’t care…. You want me to just let her deal with this on her own?!’ For the second time in as many days Alex’s eyebrows shot up, stunned by Kara’s ferocious loyalty to her new friend. Alex took a deep breath and picked her mug back up, she leant back in her seat and worried her lip in thought.

‘You… could just help her out as Supergirl, you know? Kara doesn’t have to keep being the hero.’

Kara’s head cocked to one side and she thoughtfully hummed. Somehow it actually hadn’t occurred to her that her identity would be better protected if she defended Lena as Supergirl. But then a moment of absolute clarity struck her. In her mind a lot of little offhand comments and insignificant moments fitted together as though she hadn’t noticed they were all part of a larger puzzle.

Alex was right, Lena _did_ have money and power. Lena _could_ have hired an actual detective. Lena _could_ have called any number of security teams to help. Lena _could_ have kept their relationship entirely professional and spent her lunch however she normally did. But… Lena called Kara. When Lena was scared and needed help, needed someone she could trust, she called Kara.

‘I’m all she’s got,’ Kara quietly realised. Like a faint buzzing in her ear she began to hear ‘I Won’t Let You Down’ making a soft comeback. A strange tangle of emotions knotted its way through her chest. An easy warmth, knowing that she could be someone for Lena to trust. And a cool hollowed out sensation, knowing that people kept overlooking this funny, kind, intelligent woman because she had been branded a Luthor. ‘Friends have each other’s backs so… Kara Danvers has got Lena Luthor’s back.’ _And I’m going to be the best damn friend she’s ever had!_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_*Snort*_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

‘Okay,’ Alex said with a small nod. ‘I guess I could begrudgingly stop giving you a hard time about being Lena Luthor’s friend… but _please_ stop with the dumb plans.’

Kara nervously laughed and reached up to straighten the frames of her glasses. She let her hands fall to her lap where her fingers knotted together tightly.

‘Oh God… what have you got planned?’ Alex asked with a resigned sigh. Kara cleared her throat.

‘I was actually going to ask you about this…’ On the one hand Kara knew exactly what she was going to ask Alex. Can you and a small team of DEO agents pretend to be FBI and protect Lena Luthor’s press conference? However, on the other hand… what the hell was she going to ask Alex? Please can you help me use my new friend as bait for an international assassin? Please can you help me risk my friend’s life so that we can maybe, hopefully, if we are lucky, catch a crazy murder-for-hire British guy? _Ah, what the heck, why not all of the above?_ Her eyes flickered up to meet Alex’s. _Oh, that’s why._ Alex’s face was pure irritated frustration with a twist of reproach.

‘Kara?’

‘Lena was hoping, well, we were hoping… maybe you would help us. In just the smallest way… just a tiny team of agents,’ Kara pinched her index finger and thumb together, gesturing towards Alex, ‘and you know, umm, help guard a press conference, so we could catch this guy.’

‘Absolutely not.’

‘But-‘

‘No way. It’s the Department of _Extranormal_ Operations, Kara. It’s not a police unit you can roll out to guard local events.’

‘But-‘

‘No,’ Alex said firmly. She stood up and paced across to the kitchen, aggressively rinsing her mug out at the sink. ‘Even assuming I agreed,’ she slammed the mug onto the drying rack and turned back to Kara, gesturing wildly, ‘something is bound to go wrong, and you’ll be throwing yourself in front of her and before you know it the whole world will know you’re Supergirl.’

‘Yeah… that’s the other issue…’ Kara twisted on the sofa and took in a deep breath. ‘She wants me to ask Supergirl to help out. Which is fine. I am happy to protect her as Supergirl… but how can I be a supportive friend as Kara when I’m supposed to be Supergirl?’

‘Not a problem,’ Kara’s excitement temporarily built because Alex paused, ‘we aren’t doing this. So, you don’t need to worry about being Kara and Supergirl at the same time.’

‘Alex!’ Her big blue eyes turned pleading and the Kara Danvers pout came out in full force. Alex turned away, shaking her head.

‘Don’t you dare use the puppy face on me.’

‘But Alex… she needs our help. Please.’

‘How do you make your voice sound like puppy face?’

‘You know it’s the right thing to do.’

‘No, I don’t.’ Alex’s arms very tightly crossed over her chest, and she was still determinedly not looking at Kara.

‘And…’ Kara stood up and slowly shuffled towards Alex. ‘I’ll just do it anyway, so wouldn’t it be safer if you were there?’

The tense line in Alex’s shoulders slightly loosened as her command of the situation faltered. She had absolutely no reason to doubt that Kara would indeed charge in and save the day whether it risked her identity or not. 

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_This was only the third time Aunt Alex had discussed the topic of Lena Luthor with her, and somehow, she already knew that the relationship between the two of them was going to be an absolute nightmare.  
She once informed me that it was so much worse than she had originally feared, more like apocalyptically catastrophic lesbian induced insanity. Aunt Alex will still declare to this day that she “suffered” through the entire first two years of their knowing each other… and then some more afterwards._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

‘If I agree to this, you have to promise to do exactly as I say,’ she mumbled. Kara screeched with joy in her ear and flung her arms around Alex.

‘You’re the best sister ever!’

‘I know,’ she said with a sigh. Kara jostled her from side to side and lifted her off the ground before releasing her and returning to her excited dance from before Alex’s appearance.

Kara slid around the floor, singing along to the song _somebody else was playing_. Alex huffed in exasperation and shook her head lightly.

‘Okay, whatever this is,’ she waved the palm of her hand in Kara’s direction, ‘it’s weird and I’m tired. I’m going home.’ Kara crashed into her with another hug.

‘Thank you. We’ll talk more about this tomorrow?’

‘Yeah,’ she said while peeling away from Kara and slinking out the door, deep in thought.

Kara danced a few more steps before freezing mid fist pump. _Why am I celebrating this?_ Her shoulders sagged and her brow creased. Lena was going to be putting herself in harm’s way. How had Kara agreed to this unexpected turn of events? This was just another crazy thing to add to the list… it made sense when Lena was there. It made her stomach tumble with unease and it made her heart feel as though it were being tugged, but it made sense.

Now… Now she wanted to bundle Lena up in her cape and tell the whole world to leave her alone. She wanted to protect her “friend” from any possible harm. She was practically ready to give up her life as Kara Danvers and spend it being Lena’s personal Kryptonian bodyguard when she snapped out of it and decided she needed air to think. She drifted out of the window and reclined in the sky, mindlessly tracing the constellations.

* * *

 

Kara hadn’t slept much that night and the next day had her busy with an unusual uptick in aggressive alien activity. Lena though, had plenty of thinking time while sat in meetings that really only required half of her concentration at best.

She had received one text from Kara by eleven o’clock, which, despite the newness of the friendship, Lena knew was odd. If Kara had something to say it would usually come in a flurry of texts and there would be at least one emoji. But today…

**[Kara: 08:17]** Alex is on board.

And then nothing. It was concerning. Concerning for an over-thinker anyway. She straightened up in her seat and tapped her pen on the papers carefully arranged in front of her. She reached across the desk for her phone. The screen lit up and displayed her numerous pending notifications, none of them informed her of a message from Kara.

The pen bounced faster against the papers. She ran her tongue absentmindedly along her teeth as she let her thoughts spiral. Was Kara rethinking the plan? Had she overestimated their friendship? Was Kara pulling away? That seemed the most likely, Lena had been expecting to lose Kara’s friendship one way or another. It was really only a matter of time before all the troubles that came with the Luthor name hit home with Kara.

Thankfully for everyone’s sanity, Lena’s descent into self-deprecating nonsense was interrupted by a soft thud on the balcony. She turned her head to see Supergirl awkwardly stood, with hands on hips, outside the window. Lena was only able to partially disguise the confusion on her face as she slowly moved to open the door and invite the hero inside.

‘Supergirl, I hope this means Kara has convinced you to help us.’  Supergirl gave Lena a lopsided smile and strode into the office before dramatically turning back to Lena, swirling her cape in the process.

‘I talked to Kara,’ she said and it seemed almost nervous, ‘I really don’t think you should be using yourself as bait Miss Luthor.’ _Right, I didn’t really think through asking Kara to get a superhero to help. Should have expected the lecture._

‘I see.’ Lena’s fingers knotted together in front of her. She studied Supergirl’s posture and relaxed marginally when she saw the pleading sadness in her shining blue eyes. Eyes that refracted a hundred different shades of steely blue, that were so expressive yet so guarded. There was something so incredibly familiar about those eyes, and that pleading gaze.

‘You can’t do this, it’s too dangerous.’

‘Well, that’s why I want you there,’ Lena swallowed down her own fears and smiled confidently, ‘with you there, Corben won’t be a problem.’

‘You like to take risks, don’t you?’ Supergirl’s face reflected an unexpected irritation. It momentarily caught Lena off guard. It wasn’t the kind of mild distaste and anger that was normally aimed at her. It was the kind of anger that signified that Supergirl cared. Supergirl cared what happened to Lena.

‘Well, you can’t live in fear. You more than anyone must understand that.’ Lena rested back against her desk and folded her arms. ‘Either I don’t do this and I have to live in fear of my life with an assassin out there, or I do this and I reject the fear. Besides, I’m not alone. I’ve got Kara, which no doubt comes as much of a surprise to you as it does to me.’

Supergirl’s face softened, her hand twitched as though she longed to reach out and reassure Lena in some way. _Which would be just crazy._

‘Okay,’ Supergirl sighed heavily, fluttering the papers on Lena’s desk. ‘Sorry,’ her hand reached up as though to adjust a pair of glasses. Lena’s brow creased and her eyes narrowed. There was something very familiar about that movement. ‘I’ll just get those…’ Supergirl shuffled around the desk and picked up the loose papers. The awkwardness reminded Lena of Kara.

‘Supergirl?’

‘Yeah?’ She turned her face up towards Lena and looked at her expectantly.

‘When you spoke to Kara… did she,’ Supergirl slipped the messy stack of papers onto the desk and her face twisted, trying to guess the rest of the question. ‘Never mind, it doesn’t matter.’

‘I’m sure it does.’ Those imploring blue eyes had the effect of pulling the words out of Lena’s mouth, without her consent.

‘Did she seem mad at me?’

‘What?’ Supergirl’s surprise was evident, eyebrows shot up and fidgeting hands stilled. ‘No! Of course not… why would you think that?’ Lena lightly rubbed at the nape of her neck with a nervous smile.

‘I just haven’t really heard from her today,’ Lena’s fingers twisted roughly against each other, ‘I’m sorry, she’s probably just been busy.’ There was a flash of guilt in Supergirl’s eyes. _Perhaps Kara has been helping Supergirl today. I can’t expect to monopolize Kara’s time. I wonder just how close Kara and Supergirl are…_

‘Oh!’ burst from Supergirl’s mouth, just a touch louder than would have been an acceptable response. ‘She umm, broke her phone! Yep, broke her phone.’ Still too loud and with a hint of pride about the _very believable_ lie.

‘Oh, right. That makes sense.’ But apparently Lena was willing to let that all slide. She sagged in relief and smiled to herself. ‘I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?’

‘Tomorrow?’

‘The press conference, I’ve organised it for tomorrow.’ Supergirl’s mouth dropped open.

‘Tomorrow?’ She repeated. Lena forced out a confused laugh.

‘Yes, that’s what I said.’

‘That’s really soon.’

‘Well, I’d like to get on with my life. I don’t see any point in hanging around. Kara said her sister was prepared to help and I’m hoping you don’t have a busy social calendar tomorrow.’

Supergirl let a very Karaesque nervous laugh tumble out and began pacing towards the balcony again.

‘Right… tomorrow. Are you sure Kara and her sister are ready for tomorrow?’

‘Well, no doubt there are finer details to iron out but I’m sure we’ll have everything under control with you there. So I guess Kara and I will see you then.’

‘Yes! Definitely. Both Kara and I will be there.’ Supergirl took off, muttering under hear breath.

Lena sank into her desk chair and relaxed into thought. Supergirl really was very pretty, she could see why people were always tripping over themselves around her. The piercing eyes, the golden hair, the amazon figure, the skirt… But, Lena realised, she wasn’t quite swoon worthy. There was something guarded about Supergirl. Occasionally she would glimpse something real and before she could mark it down mentally, Supergirl would have slammed the shutters down. Supergirl was a beautiful idol, like the Greek Gods and heroes. She was admirable and worthy of adoration but just out of reach. _Not like Kara… Kara is warm and open and everything a girl could fall for… not me of course, that would be impossibly awkward._

*Miss Luthor, Kara Danvers is about to burst into your office* crackled through her intercom and she bolted upright again. Jess had given up trying to outpace Kara. Yes, Kara had unfettered access to L-Corp. But Jess was nothing if not diligent, it was her job to see people to Lena’s office. Kara made this impossible. Kara made it onto Jess’ list of people that ground her gears.

True to Jess’ predication, Kara did indeed burst into Lena’s office.

‘I am so sorry I haven’t called, I broke my phone… it’s just completely dead.’ Lena smiled contentedly at the sight of a slightly dishevelled Kara Danvers all but running into her office and hurdling over the arm rest to bounce into one of the seats facing her.

‘It’s not a problem, I have been so busy this morning I really hadn’t thought about it.’  Considering how bad a liar she was, Kara hid her contradictory knowledge incredibly well.

‘Well, I wanted to see you before I went to make a plan with Alex.’ Lena leant forward in her chair and rested her forearms on the desk. Her nerves, self-doubt and anxiety burned away by Kara’s sunshine smile.

‘Great. I’ve had Jess set up a press conference for tomorrow morning.’ After Supergirl’s raised eyebrows and disbelief Lena had been expecting at least mild surprise from Kara. But Kara didn’t even flinch, almost like she already knew. ‘With a bit of luck Danvers and Luthor will be celebrating the first closed case tomorrow afternoon.’ Lena gave Kara a cheeky grin with an undeniably adorable head wiggle. Kara was a goner. Whatever she had been going to say about Lena’s impatience and irresponsibility was completely lost in that moment. Kara was completely charmed by her.

‘Okay,’ she sighed, with slightly glazed eyes. ‘What time?’

‘Eleven thirty.’

‘That’s a great time,’ Kara had no idea why that had been her response. ‘You know, because then it will all be sorted by lunch time. Important time of day is lunch time.’ Lena’s face scrunched in confused amusement.

‘Kara don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m beginning to suspect any time of day that could be considered a meal time is an important time of day for you.’ Kara bashfully smiled and nodded in agreement. Just then the distinctive screech of an electric cello cut through the room. Music filled the office and this time Kara wasn’t the only one hearing it. The music was emanating from Kara’s bag…

‘Kara… is that your phone?’

‘Uh,’ she swallowed thickly, ‘maybe? That’s my ringtone for Alex, I guess my phone fixed itself.’ The music stopped with Kara still guiltily maintaining eye contact with Lena.

‘Your ringtone for your sister is Wonder Woman’s theme?’ Excited pride shone on Kara’s face as her eyes lit up.

‘Just wait til you meet Alex tomorrow. You’ll get why. She’s amazing.’ Lena mentally noted that Alex had her own ringtone, meaning Kara conceivably personalised every ring tone on her phone. _I wonder what she has chosen for me… will it change or am I stuck with whatever awful first impression she has of me?_

The theme belted out of Kara’s bag again and she rummaged through her belongings to find her phone.

‘I should probably get this.’

‘Of course. Let me know when you and Alex have come up with a plan of action.’ Lena smiled and awkwardly waved Kara out the door, half standing and her free hand almost joining the waving one. _What the fuck was that?_

‘Hey Alex, trouble?’ Lena faintly heard as the door closed behind Kara.

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_What the frickety frack right? I know I called her the greatest mind of our time before, but all of this threw that into question for me.  
There were sooo many times she was on the verge of working it out and she was so damn awestruck by the dorky blonde in front of her that she just forgot how to think. This was worse than the white knight debacle if you ask me._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

Alex was not going to be happy when Kara told her the plan needed to kick into high gear and be ready for the next morning. She racked her brains to find a way to subtly butter Alex up before hitting her with the news.

She landed at the DEO holding a pack of Alex’s favourite beers and three pizzas.

‘What did you do this time?’ Winn’s voice was almost a chuckle as Kara entered the building.

‘What? Why? Who told you I did something?’

‘Wow… there’s so much paranoid guilt to unpack there.’ Winn sat back in his chair, appraising Kara while she slid her bribes onto the desk and flopped down next to him. ‘This got anything to do with Alex’s dark mutterings about you needing a DEO squad?’ Kara let out a deep sigh.

‘Yeah,’ she rested her face in the palm of her hand, ‘has she really been mad about that all day?’

‘Well, I don’t know if I’d say mad. Certainly surly, but it’s Alex so who can say for sure…’ Kara flicked Winn’s ear lightly.

‘Watch it, that’s my sister you’re talking about.’ Winn yelped in exaggerated pain.

‘Like you aren’t quietly agreeing with me.’ He reached for one of the pizza boxes and Kara slammed the box closed on his fingers. ‘Geez, give a guy a break here.’

‘I need this for Alex. She’s definitely going to leave surly territory when I talk to her.’

‘Oh boy, what have you been up to this time?’

‘I don’t want to say,’ Kara mumbled into her hand as it squashed the side of her face.

‘That bad, huh?’ Kara shrugged miserably and took a few moments to think before responding.

‘I don’t think it’s bad. It just sounds bad.’ Winn wheeled his chair closer to Kara and turned her to face him.

‘This got anything to do with a new lunch companion you might have?’ Kara’s head shot up to look Winn dead in the eye.

‘James has got such a big mouth,’ she said with little enthusiasm. ‘Lena is a good person,’ came out with far more vehemence.

‘Hey,’ Winn raised his hands in surrender, ‘I’m not judging her. You can be friends with whoever you want. But clearly it’s more than that or you wouldn’t be so worried about Alex’s reaction.’ Kara let out a defeated sigh.

‘Okay, just don’t judge me because this sounds worse than it is.’ Winn drew a cross over his heart with a finger and urged her to continue. ‘Well, I’m friends with Lena Luthor, which Alex wasn’t thrilled about because she told me to stay away from anything Luthor related. Anyway… I’m also sort of running an investigation with her into who exactly is trying to kill her, and I broke into Galaxy Communications with her, and I sort of went to a meet with a hitman as Kara Danvers. And… well I agreed to help her publicly catch him tomorrow at a press conference as both Kara and Supergirl.’

Winn sunk further into his chair, mouth slightly open. This wasn’t a good start for Kara. If Winn was shocked into silence, Alex would be angered into an argument. _Pizza and beer probably isn’t going to cut it._

‘You just don’t do things by halves do you? It’s always go big or go home with you isn’t it?’

‘Uh,’ Kara nervously smiled at him, ‘I guess so.’

‘And you can definitely trust her?’ Kara swallowed her instinct reaction.

‘I looked her in the eyes Winn. She’s not like her brother.’

‘That’s good enough for me,’ he patted her on the shoulder, ‘any friend of yours is a friend of mine. Just don’t tell Alex I said that… I’m too young to die.’

Alex stomped into the room and spied the pizza and beer.

‘That better be an apology for the stress you are putting me through, I don’t need you adding more to this mess.’

Kara’s inability to meet Alex’s eyes and her lack of verbal response gave her all the information she needed. Alex pursed her lips tightly and folded her arms across her chest. She raised a challenging brow at Winn who swivelled away and suddenly became thoroughly engrossed in his work.

‘Right. You, in here, now.’ Alex pulled open the door to a side room and waited for Kara to follow her commands. A very guilty and apologetic Supergirl stood up and began shuffling forwards. ‘Bring the beer,’ Alex added. Kara doubled back, grabbed the pack and sulked into the side room before Alex closed the door behind them and everyone in the DEO pretended they couldn’t hear the Danvers sisters arguing.

* * *

 

Everything was in place. The podium location had been carefully chosen, keeping line-of-sight in mind, so that Corben would need to get close. Five agents were stationed around the crowd, Alex was waiting in the wings ready to jump in and do her thing. Kara was firmly planted in the crowd ready to give Lena an encouraging thumbs-up when she stepped on stage.

The plan was simple, the agents knew who to be looking out for and would communicate Corben’s position as soon as he approached the press conference. They were only to take him on directly in pairs, DEO agents were effective fighters but there was no need to take risks when Supergirl was stood right there. Alex would sweep Lena into cover and away to safety so that Kara could duck under the stage and surreptitiously re-emerge as Supergirl. Any trouble the agents might face would quickly be counteracted by the girl of steel.

Lena would have seen her friend Kara in the crowd and Supergirl would have saved the day. Corben would be caught and Lena would be safe. Simple.

Except things never go to plan in National City. Lena confidently stepped up to the podium, planted a palm on either side of it and commanded respect with her authoritative stance. Kara watched in awe, her mouth falling open slightly. Putting on the Supergirl red and blue, her house crest, gave her confidence. It helped her stand taller, straighten her shoulders and command respect of her own. But Lena held that power without even thinking about it. Whatever she was wearing, wherever she was standing Kara knew that Lena could say just about anything she wanted and have people believe it. Lena might as well have been stood in the pulpit of the recently formed church of Lena Luthor for all Kara saw. She was just about ready to start singing the religions first and favourite hymn ‘Faith’. She was in full rapt reverence mode and it distracted her.

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_In the interest of full disclosure, she hadn’t really heard a single word of the speech. Which is just as well because in their hurry to hold the conference and catch Corben, they hadn’t actually planned what the conference would be about or even written a speech.  
So I may be adlibbing with the speech here… but you get the general effect._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

‘When I rebranded L-Corp I said I wanted to chart a brighter future. And today we continue to strive for this. L-Corp makes… things that you use every day. Medicine, we make some of those. Technology, we make technology. We are committed to renewable energy.’ Lena cleared her throat and a flicker of nervous panic flashed in her eyes. Writing a speech would probably have been advisable, but she had thought Corben would have halted the proceedings by now. He could at least have the decency to be prompt in his assassination attempts. ‘Everyday something L-Corp makes, makes your life bette-‘

Thankfully and also terrifyingly her awful speech was cut short by several explosions thundering around the crowd. Kara let out a deep sigh as she rolled her eyes and tilted her head skywards. _Of course there would be a surprise. When has crime fighting ever gone smoothly?!_

Once the noise of the explosion had dampened, the air was filled with the sound of stampeding feet, frightened screams and rather inappropriately someone had started playing Fat Boy Slim ‘Weapon of Choice’, at least, Kara could hear it anyway. Lena had ducked down behind the podium and Kara hoped she would be safe long enough for her to dart behind a small newsstand and reappear in red and blue.

Corben had created absolute chaos with his showy explosions, and that was clearly his goal because no one had been hurt. They were just all running like headless chickens who had shat their pants. Agents were desperately trying to fight through the throng of panicked citizens, but they were like salmon swimming upstream. They’d get there eventually but frankly they’d be pretty useless once they did.

‘Hold ground, he has to get past you to get to us,’ Alex fruitlessly yelled into the comms.

Kara scanned the crowd, searching for anything suspicious, aside from the explosions. Alex was making far better progress than her team and was sticking to the plan as well as she could. She had managed to loop around and was just bounding over a speaker when Kara heard one of the Agents confirm sighting of Corben.

‘Eyes on the target, East quadrant, in a police uniform.’ Which would have been tremendously useful information, had a number of squad cars not rolled up and flooded the area with officers. Suddenly all Kara could think about was a scene from a movie she’d seen a long time ago. Nuns splitting up and leading everyone on a merry chase through a casino like it was a grand scale shell game. _Why can’t anything just be easy?_ She searched the East quadrant for any sign of Corben but came up empty.

Alex made it to the stage when a support frame creaked and toppled towards her. She leapt back and avoided being flatter than a pancake. But it had slowed her progress and she could see Corben lurching up the opposite stage stairs, heading straight for Lena with gun raised.

Another explosion echoed across the area and Kara’s focus was pulled away from her search for Corben. The latest detonation had eaten away at the structural integrity of a billboard. A large number of fleeing civilians were about to get crushed by an advert for National City Hospital’s paramedics that read ‘Rushing to astound you with our medical care.’ _Well… astound wasn’t technically inaccurate in this case._

Supergirl caught it heroically above her head but didn’t have time to accept the thanks being thrown at her. Now she had a giant billboard raised above her head and nowhere to put it. She caught sight of Alex launching herself over the obstacle in her way and swirling into a roundhouse kick to disarm Corben. She let out a small sigh of relief and searched for anywhere to abandon the billboard.

The struggle continued on stage, Lena watching the events unfold in stunned silence. Swinging arms and legs seemed perfectly choreographed as Alex took on Corben in hand to hand combat. Kara spotted a clear patch of ground to ditch the load and began drifting carefully to it. Unfortunately, with hands still full, Kara saw Corben twist Alex to the ground and skitter towards his gun. He raised the barrel towards Lena, wiping a smear of blood from his cheek with his sleeve.

Well that wouldn’t do at all. Kara’s stomach had flipped when she thought there was a chance of Lena getting hurt. But now, with Lena staring down the barrel of a gun, her stomach twisted into a tense pit. Every muscle in her body reacted on instinct and without knowing what she was doing she had launched the billboard into space. She swept in front of Lena and blocked the gunfire with her face. Which sounds much cooler than it looked, heroes getting shot in the face normally end up looking pretty daft even if the bullet does bounce right off.

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_That billboard technically became the first advert in orbit.  
So, the next time someone tries to tell you supers are so derivative just remind them that Supergirl was a revolutionary in the advertising world…_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

Kara’s eyes flared with heat and was milliseconds from burning a hole straight through Corben when Alex broke his arm, threw the gun to the floor and put him in a choke hold. Supergirl smiled with pride at Alex before triumphantly turning to check on Lena.

Lena did not look as relieved as Supergirl had obviously been expecting. She dropped to her knees and began checking Lena for injuries. Lena herself searched the surrounding area with a building panic.

‘Where’s Kara?’ Supergirl stopped in her tracks and she forced herself to look Lena in the eye and lie, again.

‘Oh, she… was just… over there,’ Kara waved a pointed finger around at no location in particular. ‘Anyway… now that everything seems to be in hand here, I should go.’ Before Lena could respond in anyway to the weirdness that was Supergirl, she had disappeared in a blur. Corben was being roughly handled by a woman who had proven to be impressive enough that Lena assumed her to be Wonder Woman theme worthy. And she didn’t seem in the least bit concerned about Kara’s absence. Lena hoped this meant that Kara was fine, but she couldn’t quell the nagging feeling that something was wrong as she slowly stood up. _Why would Supergirl rush off like that? Surely she would want to see her friend Kara._

Kara bounded up the stairs behind Lena and gently placed a reassuring palm on her shoulder.

‘Lena, I’m so glad you’re okay.’ All the tense apprehension slipped away at the sight of Kara safe and unharmed. And Lena did something she had never done before. She initiated a hug. She had no idea how to express her emotions and wasn’t really sure that she wanted to. _Impossibly awkward_ sprang to mind though.

‘Kar, I’m gonna take Corben in. Don’t forget your paperwork,’ Alex said with a meaningful glance that obviously concealed something from Lena.

‘Oh,’ Kara managed to fill the single syllable with unbelievable disappointment, ‘but Lena… you need to meet Lena properly.’ Lena gazed at Kara’s profile with adoring astonishment and Alex rolled her eyes.

‘Don’t worry, I’ll have plenty of opportunity to interrogate her over drinks tonight,’ Alex said with a menacing grin that would no doubt have concerned Lena if she hadn’t still be staring at Kara.

‘Drinks tonight?’ Kara queried.

‘I think I can stretch to a round of drinks in celebration of the DL Investigative team closing their first case.’

‘Really?’ Kara’s face lit up with childish glee.

‘I’ll drag Winn along too and he can buy round number two,’ Alex said over her shoulder as she shoved Corben down the stage steps. ‘You should see if James is free.’

‘Yeah, will do.’ Kara turned to Lena and sighed in relief, knowing that Lena was safe.

‘I really think your sister was onto something with DL Investigations… if we were to have business cards, that is what should be on them.’ Lena looped her arm through Kara’s and the pair of them began to head towards L-Corp.

‘It does have a good ring to it I guess… but it should be LD Investigations.’

‘But then we wouldn’t be investigators keeping things on the DL,’ Lena raised a challenging brow at Kara, who huffed in defeat.

‘You win this round Luthor.’

‘I win every round, Danvers.’ Lena fluttered her lashes at Kara with a smug grin.

‘Only because I’m on your team,’ Kara shot back and flexed her free arm exaggeratedly. Lena snorted at the pastel cardigan and dorky expression contrasting with the admittedly impressive bicep.

‘Kara?’ Lena had a very important question.

‘Yes, detective Luthor?’

‘What’s my ringtone?’

‘Huh?’

‘Alex is Wonder Woman, which you’re right, I totally get now. So what am I?’ Kara glanced away in just such a manner as to raise Lena’s suspicions, and shrugged.

‘Oh… I only personalised Alex. It’s just the standard ringtone as far as I know.’

Lena had an awful habit of just accepting everything Kara said to her. She felt as though she had an ingrained instinct to implicitly trust this strange, determined, ray of sunshine. But for once, she was instantly dubious of Kara’s claim. Her free hand dug into her pocket and hit speed dial number two.

A light whistling tune started to play in Kara’s pocket and she scrambled to decline the call before the lyrics started. She stopped it just as the first word had sung out ‘Everybody-‘

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_A lot of time could have been saved if she had simply let the phone continue._  
In that moment, just how much their friendship meant would have been expressed by song lyrics alone. And I estimate the slow getting to know each other stages of the following three months would have happened that evening…  
‘Everybody wants me to be who they want me to be except you,  
all I wanna do is be with you’

_Unfortunately, these two idiots missed every opportunity to speed things along._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

‘I knew you were the kind of person to personalise every ringtone!’ Lena’s eyes were filled with mischief and she pointed an accusatory finger at Kara.

‘It makes it easier to decide if I want to answer the phone,’ she mumbled while putting her phone on silent.

‘Kara Danvers,’ Lena placed a hand over her heart, ‘I am absolutely scandalized. You screen your phone calls?’

‘Oh, like you don’t Miss big important CEO.’

‘Of course I screen my calls. A lot of people call me that I would rather never speak to. But Kara Danvers, bundle of friendliness, screens people in her life?’ Kara lolled her head in mock annoyance and squinted at Lena with tight lips.

‘I get it, you think I’m too nice to avoid people. I’ll have you know I just rejected the call of a very important business woman.’ They both laughed and came to an easy pause in their conversation when L-Corp loomed over them. ‘I should probably let you get back to your day job detective.’

‘You’re really liking this whole detective thing aren’t you?’

‘I really am. It’s fun. Plus think about the story I can write on this. Everyone else is only going to have about half the facts at best.’ Lena smiled proudly and hugged Kara goodbye. She was really on a roll that day, two hugs initiated by her. New and exciting times.

‘I’ll text you the address of the bar,’ Kara called as she skipped off down the street.

* * *

 

At that time the gang were still trying their best to find a bar that they felt suited them. There had been a particularly hipstery bar at Winn’s suggestion, a sports bar at James’ request, a dive bar that Alex had found, an Irish pub that Kara had thought sounded fun and a nightclub that really left very little opportunity for them talk to each other. Things hadn’t been going well on that front. James’ sports bar had been the most positive experience, there was food to keep Kara happy, but it still wasn’t quite the right fit.

It had been decided that the next place they would try was to be a lounge bar, which Alex had not been pleased about. She grumbled about pricey cocktails the whole way to the Amoebar, and then when she arrived she grumbled about the nonsense name. Alex had made no effort to meet the expected, if not enforced, dress code for a lounge bar, but Kara had put on a simple black dress. They found Winn and James waiting outside for them and headed in hoping to find a quiet table to relax at.

James glanced cautiously at Kara and just as he opened his mouth to speak the cocktail waitress appeared. His mouth snapped back shut while Alex ordered a beer, determinedly not having a stupid fancy cocktail. Winn’s eyes widened at the cocktail menu and he slapped it shut.

‘A zombie please,’ he said excitedly. Winn did not know what was in a zombie, he has never drunk one since. He made his mistake and lived with it. Kara ordered a Pina Colada because she might as well enjoy the drink if it wasn’t going to get her drunk and James asked for a White Russian, not really knowing what he wanted.

As soon as the waitress had left James pounced on his chance, not going to let it pass by again.

‘So, Kara… Lena Luthor?’

‘Yeah,’ Kara smiled proudly.

‘Are you sure that’s a good idea?’ Kara rolled her eyes, did James really think Alex hadn’t already gone through this with Kara?

‘Positive. She’s great, you’re all going to love her. She could really use the friends too, it’s lonely being a Luthor.’

‘See, that’s what I’m worried about Kara. Her using her friends…’ Kara scowled instantly, teeth gritting. _How can he be so damn judgemental? He hasn’t even met her yet!_

‘Don’t do that James,’ Alex interjected before Kara could stew any longer. ‘We’re all going to meet Lena and I’m sure Kara knows what she’s doing.’ _Thank Rao for sisters._ Alex ran a soothing hand down Kara’s arm, drawing out the tension just before Lena arrived.

Lena had done an extensive google search of Amoebar before leaving work. Technically what she had worn to the office would have passed with ease, but this was the ever so Extra Lena Luthor. She had found time to dash home and slip into a figure hugging green dress. Kara was not the only one seeing things moving in slow motion when Lena’s swaying hips sauntered into the bar. She had let her hair down and it cascaded like an inky waterfall over her bare shoulders. One elegant hand loosely gripped her clutch while the long fingers of her other hand ran smoothly through her hair. Kara’s mouth went dry.

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_It took me two solid weeks of pestering, whining and blackmail to get her to admit it._  
But for a mere three seconds a song started up in her head. This was actually the first time she had been able to completely silence the music. Personally, I think it was her brain’s own self defence mechanism. She was not ready for that image and that song together. She would have malfunctioned  
Never the less, she heard Marvin Gaye’s ‘Let’s Get It On’ for three whole seconds at the sight, and it would still be at least another half a year before she would admit her feelings to herself…  
This is the level of love stupid we are dealing with here.

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

Lena caught sight of Kara and nervously waved as she walked towards the table. Kara shot to her feet and met Lena half way, reaching out to lead Lena by the hand.

‘Everyone, I want you to meet Lena,’ Kara proudly gestured to her new friend and turned to face her, ‘Lena, this is everyone.’ She grinned excitedly. Alex rolled her eyes in the background and nursed her beer.

‘It’s a pleasure to meet you all, I’m sure.’ Lena let her practiced business persona take over, too nervous to be herself and risk ruining anything. The waitress arrived with their drinks and Lena politely requested an Old Fashioned. Winn shot up and leant across the table to offer her a handshake with a friendly smile.

‘Winn, we are absolutely going to geek out about that computing background of yours. This is James,’ he titled his head towards James, ‘he works at CatCo with Kara.’

‘Hi,’ James smiled with thinly veiled distaste and nodded once. Lena sat herself between Kara and Alex, it seemed like a safer bet than between Kara and James.

‘And you already know me, right Luthor?’ Lena winced at the name but kept it together.

‘Wonder Woman, how could I forget.’ Alex raised a single surprised eyebrow, and Kara laughed a little too loudly.

‘Wonder Woman?’ Winn asked. Lena smiled mischievously and looked to Kara, challenging her to explain. Kara fidgeted with the arm of her glasses.

‘My ringtone for Alex is the Wonder Woman theme…’

‘It’s what I deserve,’ Alex said around another gulp of beer.

‘You guys have never noticed her personalised ring tones before?’ Lena queried.

‘I don’t know, I never really paid attention I guess… what’s mine?’

‘Err,’ Kara cringed and scratched at the nape of her neck. She looked at Lena, eyes filled with betrayal. ‘Nothing special…’

It was at this moment Lena had two options. She could back Kara up, and she had learnt that having Kara’s back was a key component of friendship. Or she could throw Kara under the bus, get a few laughs and possibly integrate with Kara’s friends faster. She leant back in her chair, out of Kara’s line of sight and gestured a phone with her hand up to the side of her face, smiling wide at Winn.

Little did she know just how big that oncoming bus was.

Kara had taken her phone off silent once she had left Lena’s company and now she found herself listening to the dulcet tones of Biz Markie singing ‘Just A Friend’. She closed her eyes and blushed a deep red. Winn took it remarkably well, his lips disappeared in a tight smile and nodded his head. Alex was desperately trying not to laugh but the longer Winn let the call keep going the harder it became. She was just hanging onto the laugh when it stopped and James pulled out his phone to dial Kara’s number.

Both Alex and Lena burst into a fit of giggles when the chorus to ‘Macho Man’ kicked in and Kara slumped over the table to hide her face forever more. James shook his head and patted Winn on the shoulder.

‘I feel like we’ve learned a lot tonight already,’ James said with a chuckle.

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Given that Winn’s ringtone obviously had some meaning that she was missing, and James’ was pretty easy to figure out. She probably should have connected the dots and figured out her ringtone was more than just a nice song._  
But she didn’t…  
*Eye roll for effect*

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

 


	5. The Next Step

**ACT II**

Roughly three months after capturing Lena’s would be assassin Kara had been irritating her colleagues all morning. As a technicality, her first rendition of Sam Cooke’s ‘You Send Me’ had been a joyful interlude, but every cycle of the song since then had ground them further into blind hatred for the tune.

_‘At first I thought it was infatuation’_

The song had been stuck in Kara’s head for days, swirling around like a record. Music playing through her mind had become a regular occurrence for her, truth be told, she enjoyed having her own jukebox thanks to her super hearing. She was still telling herself the songs were playing elsewhere in the city… But this song was different. It obviously wasn’t coming courtesy of her super hearing, who would be playing the same song on repeat twenty-four-seven? And it refused to budge, it dug its heels in and clutched at the door frame of her mind.

‘ _but ooh it’s lasted so long.’_

It had started one evening as she walked arm in arm with Lena. They had been celebrating what they hoped would be the final ousting of a Lex supporter from within L-Corp and had had one too many drinks. The evening had been warm, the dark city was lit by the soft glow of streetlights and they had just past a flower vendor filling the air with indulgent floral scents. A not wholly unwelcome image popped into Kara’s mind. An image of opening her front door with a sigh of relief, seeing Lena comfortably sat in her living room with her laptop. An image of Lena looking over and her eyes filling with delight, of Kara presenting her with a bouquet of flowers, just because it was a Wednesday.

‘ _Now I find myself wanting’_

Ever since, she had listened to and sung the lyrics more times than Sam Cooke had in his entire existence. She should have been able to note the meaning, she should have been able to pick apart the message her brain was forcing down her throat, she should have been able to put the pieces together.

_‘to marry you and take you home.’_

But Kara was an idiot.

Thankfully, before it became necessary for CatCo to take on a full-time therapist for the staff, Wonder Woman’s theme blared from her phone and she merrily greeted Alex.

‘Hey Kar, don’t freak out or get too excited-‘

‘Oh Rao, did you get me a puppy?’ Kara enthusiastically cut in.

‘What? No, Kara. Just… no. There’s been a landing. Something just crash landed outside the city, we have agents on the way, but initial readings are suggesting it’s a pod… a Kryptonian pod.’ Kara’s mouth dropped open as she sunk back into her chair. It was impossible. Another refugee from Krypton. Another person she had let down, another person who had been out there, drifting for all that time while she had gone about her life. ‘Kar?’

‘Hmm?’ She barely registered Alex, thoughts spiralling. She had been too late for Kal and too slow for whoever this was. ‘Where?’ Her muscles sprang to action, determined to make up for lost time and help.

‘I’m sending co-ordinates to your phone,’ Alex paused, Kara heard her swallow, ‘just remember, we don’t know what this is yet.’ No more than ten seconds later Supergirl had launched off the roof of CatCo, soaring through National City airspace just below the speed of sound.

A trail of rucked Earth led to a scorched silver pod, flames still licking along its sides. Kara hovered above the small crater. It was Kryptonian. It was the same kind she had arrived in all those years before. Her throat started to bob as the tension in her stomach pulled tight. Her hands shook as a tear rolled down her cheek. She landed gently by the pod, placing a tentative hand on its shell, and gasped softly. Her fingers ran along to the handle and paused.

She remembered how scared she had been when she first arrived. Kal’s confidence when he stretched out his hand had calmed her, even just slightly. She needed to compose herself before she opened this pod. Her mind was racing with all the what ifs imaginable. She focused, on something that for the past three months had been a constant reassuring beat. Lena’s heart. Miles away, scribbling her signature at her desk Lena’s heart beat steadily.

*thud thud*

Kara breathed deeply and calmly as she listened contentedly to Lena’s strong heart. She wiped her cheeks free of tears, shook off her worry and confidently opened the pod.

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_This was a lot of hype for… well, a lot of disappointment._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

Kara needn’t have bothered putting on her bravest face, the pod’s occupant was unconscious. A man, probably a similar age to Kara. Any more than that she couldn’t know. She watched him peacefully breathing as though he had simply fallen asleep in a bed and would be mighty surprised to find himself on a different planet when he woke. Kara had heard of stag parties sending drunken grooms off on flights, and she chuckled at the idea of this man being posted off to a different planet as a premarital joke.

It was strange looking at him. He could be anybody. He could be a human. There was nothing innately Kryptonian about him. No house crest proudly emblazoned on his chest, no marriage bracelet, not even the familiar Kryptonian clothing. Just the pod.

His heart was beating normally, his chest was rising and falling in a perfectly ordinary manner. She had been so excited for the prospect of another Kryptonian, another person fluent in Kryptonese, that she felt disappointment settling in her gut as Alex’s words ran through her mind _we don’t know what this is yet._

Kara carefully lifted him out of the pod and held him in her arms, staring down at this floppy possibly Kryptonian. DEO vehicles pulled up and agents cautiously trickled out. Supergirl passed off the unconscious being to medical staff and swallowed hard. She had a lot of questions for him. For a planet that was literally obliterated by apparent surprise, Krypton sure did manage to send off it’s fair share of refugees.

At the DEO, the pod crash was big news. Maybe not there’s a white martian invasion news, but definitely something to pique the office chatter and have medical staff in a fluster, except Alex. Kara watched as Alex calmly checked him over and made her notes. She shifted her weight from foot to foot irritatingly regularly and knotted her fingers together. Alex glanced out the corner of her eye at her and sighed.

‘You being here isn’t going to wake him up any faster.’

‘Sorry, I’ll stop fidgeting… It’s just…’

‘I know. You’re excited but trying not to be just in case.’ Kara tried her best to control the excited wiggle but ended up shimmying slightly.

‘I could speak Kryptonese with him!’

‘Hey… you can speak Kryptonese with me,’ Alex said with clear offence and slight jealousy tinging her voice.

‘Well, yeah. But your accent is awful,’ Kara said with a grin.

‘Oh, I’m sooo sorry I can’t make all the stupid sounds. I’m trying here.’ She balled up a sheet of note paper and tossed it at Kara’s head.

‘Very professional Agent Danvers,’ J’onn stated as he entered the room. Alex looked sufficiently chastised and averted her eyes back to her notes. ‘What can you tell me about the subject?’

‘Not much so far, male. Comatose. Definitely an alien,’ Alex demonstratively broke a needle on his skin.

‘He must be from Krypton!’

‘It only proves he’s not human,’ J’onn said with finality, ‘which means he could be dangerous.’

‘I’ll get Winn to examine the telemetry of the pod and see if we can find out more from that. Other than that, we are just going to have to wait for him to wake up.’ Alex set down her notepad and gave Kara a sympathetic smile.

‘No, that can’t be all,’ she waved her arms expressively, ‘can’t we wake him up now?’

‘Kara, it’ll be safer for him if we let him wake up in his own time. Besides… I have plans with Maggie and I’m not about to be late again.’ Kara bowed her head in resignation and gently nudged Alex with her shoulder. J’onn knew this conversation was about to get more personal than he was willing to stick around for. He slipped out the medical bay quietly.

‘I guess I can’t begrudge you that,’ she smiled mischievously, ‘so you and Maggie an official thing now or…?’ Alex shook her head.

‘No, I came out to my sister and mom, humiliated myself, and pined after her for weeks so that I could keep things casual with her…’ Kara squealed, not a full Kara squeal but at least a seven on the scale.

‘I’m so happy for you Alex. Are you going to bring her to game night tonight?’ Alex chewed her lip and avoided Kara’s excited gaze.

‘I dunno Kar,’ she rubbed the back of her neck, ‘it’s pretty new and not everybody has met her yet… our game nights are probably a bit much for the uninitiated.’

‘Whaaat?’ Kara grabbed Alex’s shoulders and turned her so that the they were facing each other dead on. ‘She’ll be fine. If she’s good enough for you then she’s going to crush game night… well come in second because no one is going to beat Lena.’ Alex shrugged Kara’s hands off.

‘Please,’ Alex’s expression turned cocky, ‘Lena is not that good, she’s just had a lucky streak. I’m going to take her down a peg.’ A laugh burst unexpectedly from Kara and she quickly covered her mouth.

‘You’re going to beat Lena?!’ she said incredulously.

‘Yeah, in fact… I’m going to bring Maggie tonight just to show off my victory to her.’ Alex crossed her arms and sent Kara a challenging look.

‘Lena? Certified genius Lena? Chess prodigy Lena? Engineer Lena? CEO Lena?’ Kara blustered in complete disbelief. ‘She has the perfect combination of skills to win at every game ever conceived! Monopoly, sure. Jenga, sure. Operation, sure. Life, sure. Clue, sure. How do you think you’re going to beat her?’ Alex rolled her eyes and internally sighed. _This is definitely a step beyond friendship… how is Kara not seeing this?_

‘Two words,’ she replied with a confident smugness, ‘Mario Kart.’

Kara froze, this could be the end of Lena’s reign. She had never seen Lena drive, never seen Lena demonstrate the honed reflexes a supreme kart racer needs.

‘Well… she might,’ she gulped and paused, ‘darn, you could actually win.’

‘That’s right,’ Alex glanced at her watch, ‘I have to go, I’ll see you tonight.’

‘Yeah, see you later.’ Kara looked around the med bay, swinging her arms idly. There really wasn’t much to do. Waiting for a comatose patient to wake up was boring. She pulled out her phone and started aimlessly browsing the web. She wasn’t quite ready to abandon the possibly, hopefully, Kryptonian lying on the hospital bed.

* * *

 Lena’s morning had involved far less singing, flying, or alien man discovery than Kara’s. The life of a CEO was unsurprisingly less exciting than the life of a superhero. She had waded her way through a mountain of paperwork, checked the progress of the research and development department now that they weren’t held back by embezzlement, met with two rival CEOs as she considered a new portfolio investment, and offered Jess paid vacation three times.

Needless to say she was delighted when her phone erupted with a standard Kara message bombardment. She had been hoping for a distraction all morning.

**[Kara: 12:34]** I think elephants are my new favourite animal!

**[Kara: 12:34]** Did you know their trunk is strong enough to rip branches off a tree?

**[Kara: 12:35]** But also they are delicate enough to pick a single blade of grass?!?!

**[Kara: 12:35]** That’s sooo much self-control!!

**[Kara: 12:35]** I found videos of elephants painting. You have to see them Lena!

**[Kara: 12:36]** They’re amazing.

**[Kara: 12:36]** One of the elephants is called Jess! And she signed her name on her painting!!!

**[Kara: 12:37]** Do you think I could win Jess over if I bought a Jess the elephant painting for her?

The messages had been decorated with heavy use of elephant emoji. Lena couldn’t stop the smile creeping across her face.

**[Lena: 12:38]** It’s worth a shot, right? The pastries, flowers and pizza didn’t work but she’s probably just been holding out for elephant paintings.

**[Kara: 12:39]** You don’t know. She might be!

**[Kara: 12:39]** You’re still coming to game night tonight, right?

The first time Lena had been invited to game night she had been initially filled to the brim with excitement and her heart was so thoroughly warmed she had almost forgotten the icy depths to which it had previously sunk. Then it all drained away and she filled with dread because game nights were not something Lena ‘no friends’ Luthor was familiar with.

But, despite James' continued thinly veiled hostility, Lena had found her place as one of Kara’s friends. She had learnt a lot about friendships from careful observation. She had even enjoyed the competitive rivalry that had sparked between herself and Alex, it so reminded her of the chess matches she had played with Lex.

**[Lena: 12:40]** My Luthor genes demand that I continue my domination. I’ll be there.

**[Kara: 12:40]** Good. Alex has this crazy idea that she’s going to actually beat you tonight.

**[Lena: 12:41]** Why on Earth would she think that?

**[Kara: 12:41]** Well…

**[Kara: 12:42]** Mario Kart…

**[Kara: 12:42]** Please tell me you’re secretly an amazing virtual racer.

**[Lena: 12:43]** I won’t lie to you Kara.

Lena was ordinarily a ‘one message to say what she needed to’ kind of person. But that would not have been as fun. Instead she tidied her desk, poured herself a glass of water and turned on the latest news coverage before responding.

**[Lena: 12:49]** I may have more hidden talents than you know.

She smiled deviously to herself and half heartedly watched the tv while she sipped her water. Some news story about criminals with alien technology was taking up much of the coverage and didn’t hold her attention for long. That was, until Supergirl burst onto the scene.

Ah Supergirl. Ever since Lena had begun her friendship with Kara, it was as though she had become a good person by proxy. Supergirl now stuck around a little longer after a rescue, seemingly just to chat to Lena. She occasionally checked in on Lena if she was working late. Supergirl seemed comfortable around a Luthor. And those shutters the used to roll down so rapidly, stopping Lena from seeing beneath the surface, were apparently rusting.

The more time she spent with Supergirl the more swoon worthy the hero became. Which Lena realised was a treacherous path to let herself tumble along. But surely it was no worse than falling for your only friend, so really was it even that bad?

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Yes, she had realised very promptly after their first case that she was uncontrollably stumbling toward romantic feelings for her only friend._

_She had, she felt, handled it with absolute grace. Supressing her feelings for the benefit of her friendship and to avoid making her friend feel uncomfortable. Because obviously there was no way those feelings would be returned…_

_I’d say, I suppose with the benefit of hindsight, that she handled it like an absolute idiot._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

She was dragged from thoughts of her disastrously unhelpful feelings by the sight of Supergirl being shot clean through a concrete wall by an obviously alien gun. Suddenly the news was the most interesting thing she had ever watched. Lena gazed in rapt attention as Supergirl zipped around in the sky, dodging the weaponfire and trying to find an opportunity to land her own blows.

Lena winced as the apparent leader of the criminal gang hit his target and knocked Supergirl to the ground again. The footage was shaky and the view kept drifting from the grounded superhero. Lena subconsciously craned her neck to try and get a better view of Supergirl every time the screen shifted from the hero. Familiar blue eyes looked towards the camera, Lena was caught up in them as Supergirl swallowed nervously and leapt into the air after the criminals had escaped.

_God, I hope she’s okay. I hope she has someone that cares for her._ Lena’s afternoon was spent inefficiently. She couldn’t focus her full attention in the ensuing three meetings, on the blueprints R &D had sent up or even when Jess was running through her schedule for the next day.

‘Miss Luthor are you feeling alright?’

‘Hmm?’ Lena blinked to clear her vision and met Jess’ eyes.

‘You seem a little out of it this afternoon.’

‘Do you think anyone looks after Supergirl?’ Jess’ head jolted back in surprise but it was a testament to her professionalism that she was back to straight faced seriousness in a matter of seconds.

‘What?’

‘She makes sure everyone else is safe,’ Lena said absently, gazing out the window and running her fingers along the rim of her glass, ‘does anybody makes sure she is safe?’

‘Uh,’ Jess cleared her throat and tightened her hold on her tablet before giving Lena a tight smile, ‘I’m sure someone does.’ She looked down at the schedule displayed on her screen and noticed Lena was scheduled to leave earlier than usual. ‘Hector will be here soon, is there anything else you need today Miss Luthor?’

Lena finally snapped to focus. Thoughts of Kara swept through her mind and all her concerns washed away.

‘No, thank you Jess. I’ll see you tomorrow.’ Lena neatened her papers and rose to her feet. If she was going to stamp her mark as a Mario Kart extraordinaire, she was going to do it with absolute style. Because she was Lena Luthor. Because she was extra…

* * *

 The surprisingly well armed thieves had put a minor dent in Kara’s mood. The fact that when she returned to the DEO her new Kryptonian friend was still unconscious was another minor dent. It was going to take a lot more than minor dents to stop her from hosting the best damn game night.

With Maggie coming, Kara had the opportunity to show off her best friend to a new person. _Oh… best friend… **best** friend. Huh…_ Kara was beginning to connect the dots. When she started thinking about how impressive Lena was at every game night, Queen ‘You’re My Best Friend’ had reached her ears. But this time she scratched her head and wondered if maybe, just maybe, the song was only in her head.

She dashed around her apartment, rearranging the furniture, putting out snacks, and rechecking her outfit. For some reason it felt important to look her best even in casual clothes. All the while wondering just how many of the songs she had been hearing might have been all her. They couldn’t possibly **all** have been in her head… could they? No, no way. Why would her mind be playing ZZ Ward ‘Blue Eyes Blind’ while she was having a friendly lunch with Lena? That must have been somebody else.

‘You’re My Best Friend’ made sense, and she was even more excited for the evening knowing that she really did consider Lena her best friend. Kara’s friend history had been fairly lacking if she was being totally honest with herself, and complete honesty with herself was becoming a rarer and rarer occurrence… Anyway, there had been Alex, an amazing friend but really, she was the best big sister a girl could hope for. Then there had been Winn, who was definitely a great friend. She had even thought that’s what best friends were. But then there had been Lena. Lena was-

*knock knock*

Lena was at the door.

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Do you remember when Winn wanted to show you that old tv show, Mr Bean?_  
And remember how much you just wanted to cringe at everything he did?  
You’ve got a fairly good approximation of how I felt listening to her ridiculously oblivious thought processes at that time.  
She was somehow completing a dot to dot drawing without using any of the even numbers, she was doing a colour by numbers without acknowledging the colour red, she was… oh Rao she was so dumb!

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

She flung open the door with a delighted smile and froze with wide eyes. Lena was wearing jeans! Lena… jeans. Her brain short circuited, reset and slowly ground back into action. Now that she knew some of the songs she heard were in her head she battled to keep them under control. She purposefully hit replay on ‘You’re My Best Friend’ to stop anything else from playing.

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Here's an embarrassing little factoid. She was desperately trying to wrangle Blondie’s ‘Maria’ into submission.  
It gets worse. Her head was changing it to ‘my Lena’…_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

Lena was leaning against the door frame, tight dark jeans, green canvas low tops and a leather jacket. Kara was doomed. In one hand she was offering up a very expensive bottle of wine, the other hand casually clutching a pair of leather driving gloves. She peered over Kara’s shoulder and smiled wide.

‘Good, I’m early. I think I’ve got our next case.’ She slipped around a dumbfounded Kara into the apartment, flicking Kara’s nose with the gloves and setting the wine down on the kitchen counter.

‘D-d-did,’ Kara paused her stuttering and took a composing breath, ‘did you drive here?’

‘Of course, a warm up for crushing Alex tonight,’ she waggled her eyebrows and smiled wryly. ‘Anyway,’ she tossed the subject aside with the flick of her hand and leant back against the counter as Kara slowly adjusted to the new casual Lena. ‘I want to investigate some criminals.’

‘I thought we cleared L-Corp out.’

‘We did. But why dissolve a perfectly effective detective partnership when there are cases to be solved?’

‘…okay. So… you want to investigate criminals?’

‘A criminal gang to more precise. The ones with the alien weapons.’

‘Uh…’ Kara was just having all the curve balls thrown at her today. The last three months of investigations had been mostly white collar crime with the odd Lex fanatic thrown into the mix. She had been side by side with Lena every step of the way. So, since Corben she had known she could protect this fiery justice seeking Luthor. But Kara had had her ass handed to her just hours before by these guys and their stupid weapons. ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea. We should stick to less dangerous criminals.’

‘Well I disagree,’ Lena said promptly. ‘Besides, Supergirl is our friend. She has gotten us out of a jam… or at least she’s saved _me_ , multiple times. Don’t you think we should help her?’

_Well, fudge._ Kara was cornered. She couldn’t very well tell Lena that she had no interest in helping Supergirl, that’s too many lies building up. It was hard enough keeping the identity lie going.

‘I think… we should help her if she asks for help.’ Excellent work Kara, now all she had to do was not ask for help as Supergirl.

‘Does Supergirl seem like the kind of person to ask people for help if it might endanger them?’

‘No…’

‘Exactly. So we can’t sit around waiting for her to ask, she won’t. Supergirl has to wait for these guys to strike and hope she can out fight them. We could find out who they are, where to find them, how to stop them and their weapons.’ Now this was a conundrum for Kara. On the one hand was pride that Lena was so confident in their teamwork and investigative abilities. On the other was an insult… Supergirl did more than hope she could out fight criminals.

‘Hey! Supergirl isn’t just a fighting machine you know, she does thinking too!’ Lena’s brow raised. There was a glimmer of something flashing across her eyes, was it jealousy? But was it about Kara or Supergirl, or both?

‘I didn’t mean it like that,’ Lena strode towards Kara and planted herself firmly in her personal space, ‘I just don’t want our partnership to be over. And I think we could do a lot of good together. And don’t you want an interesting story to write about?’ Her forehead crinkled as she pouted with pleading eyes. There was absolutely no way that Kara stood any chance against that expression. She internally wrestled with herself anyway though.

‘Promise me that we will be careful.’

‘I absolutely promise,’ Lena held out her pinky finger, Kar looped hers around, ‘DL investigations has a new case.’ Lena launched into a hug that Kara was definitely not prepared for. She turned up the volume of her personal stereo as she felt tight leather sleeves wrap around her and Lena’s perfume filled her lungs. _…you’ve stood by me girl, I’m happy at home, you’re my best friend._

 The hug broke but they were very much still in each other’s personal space, gazing intently into each other’s eyes. Who knows why… The door swung open and Alex strolled in with a case of beers. She glanced at the pair of them.

‘These two, I swear to God,’ she muttered. Maggie following closely behind.

‘Oh, Alex you didn’t tell me Kara and Lena were _together_ together.’ With her face turned away from Kara and Lena she winked mischievously at Alex and waited for the fumbled chaos to ensue. The detective duo sprang apart and shuffled awkwardly, Lena’s fingers knotted together while Kara adjusted the frame of her glasses.

‘Err… we’re not… she’s my friend… best friend,’ Kara stuttered. Lena’s gaze whipped straight to Kara’s profile, warm smile on her astonished face.

‘My mistake, you just looked so comfortable with each other,’ Maggie said with an excellent demonstration of her acting abilities. She turned back to Alex and waggled her eyebrows as though she knew what was coming next.

‘It’s okay, if people were going to mistakenly think I was dating anybody, I’m glad it’s Lena.’ Alex cracked open the case of beers with a long-suffering sigh and nursed her drink on the couch. ‘Oh, you haven’t officially met yet. This is my best friend Lena Luthor, Lena this is Alex’s girlfriend Maggie Sawyer.’ Kara beamed with delight. She really liked saying best friend I guess.

Winn and James arrived just as Maggie was shaking Lena’s hand, studying her closely.

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_At the time James genuinely thought Maggie was, like him, suspicious of the Luthor name.  
But Maggie had a bet going with Aunt Alex, she was actually just trying to gauge how long it would be before she could collect her winnings._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

Copious amounts of pizza was delivered, catch up conversations were had and alcohol was drunk. Everyone had done their best to dethrone Lena as Queen of Jenga but inevitably failed. Maggie had caused a stir when she had discovered that it was Colonel Mustard in the kitchen with the rope. But it was Alex who had determinedly told Kara that she could beat Lena. So when Mario Kart was booted up the competition heated up. Lena stood up, stretched and took off her jacket. Revealing an emerald green racer back tank top.

From that point on Kara was able to focus on very little besides Lena’s shoulder blades.

‘You’re going down Luthor,’ Alex said with a determined frown. Lena simply smiled in return.

‘Okay ladies,’ Winn said, controllers in hand, ‘what track are we settling this on?’

‘Twisted Mansion,’ James suggested, looking pointedly at Lena. Whatever he was trying to say had been missed, Lena had given up trying to play nice with James. It didn’t seem to matter what she did, he wasn’t going to see past the Luthor name.

Alex consulted with Maggie quietly but before they came to a consensus Lena spoke commandingly.

‘Rainbow Road.’

‘Ho- oooooh. A lot of confidence there, I like it,’ Winn said as he began to set up the race. Kara slung an arm around Lena’s shoulders.

‘My girl has got this. Wouldn’t put her in the ring if I wasn’t sure she’d come out swinging,’ she said with an attempted impression of something no one is quite sure of to this day. Alex rolled her eyes and shook her head.

‘Care to make this interesting Kara?’ Maggie leant over the arm of her chair and drew Kara’s attention.

‘What did you have in mind?’

‘Your girl wins, and I take Alex to a vegan ice cream parlour.’ Kara shuddered.

‘Those exist?!’ she replied, Alex laughed.

‘That’s what I said!’

‘Yes, they do. And I will put Alex through that “torture” _if_ Lena wins this race.’

‘And if Alex wins?’

‘If my girl wins,’ she hooked her arm around Alex’s waist, ‘there’s a pint of vegan ice cream with your name on it.’ Kara made a gagging noise and her expression turned queasy.

‘Get ready to suffer Kar,’ Alex stated, receiving a kiss on the cheek from Maggie.

‘No way, Lena has got this.’ Kara’s eyes widened in nervousness, she had no idea if Lena had got this. Lena patted Kara’s thigh and smiled wryly. She attempted a wink at Kara, but it was honestly just a slow blink.

Winn handed out the controllers with great pomp and ceremony before sitting cross legged on the floor in eager anticipation. At the end of the race one of the Danvers sisters would be doomed to suffer through one of their favourite things turned vegan. Winn was going to enjoy this no matter what. Lena slipped forwards in her seat and sat poised, ready to race. Alex was far more casual, happy to remain in Maggie’s arms.

Lena Luthor vs Alex Danvers

Princess Peach vs Luigi

3…

2…

1…

GO!

Lena went straight in, attacking the course. Alex went straight in, attacking Princess Peach, shoving her off course and zipping ahead. It very quickly became clear though that Lena’s confidence was not just for show. Was it possible that Lena Luthor had secrets from Kara? Lena didn’t just race well, Kara realised, she knew the track names, knew the character names. Were there other games Lena played? What other interests did Lena have that Kara didn’t know about? Amid the spiralling questions there was one distracting factor. With Lena sat forward on the sofa Kara had a clear view. _Shoulder blades… how is it possible for shoulder blades to be perfect?_ The muscles tensed and relaxed as Lena battled against Alex. In a daze Kara’s hand reached up and her fingers were millimetres from stroking along Lena’s milky skin when she jolted back to alertness. She caught James’ eye and he looked at her with a tight frown of confusion.

‘You got this babe,’ Maggie cheered as Alex skilfully progressed through the third lap. Lena smiled devilishly. Second place was exactly where she wanted to be.

‘Come on Lena, you can do it,’ Kara said softly.

‘I know,’ Lena’s smug tones washed over Alex and her concentration stepped up a notch as she leant forward in her chair. Lena timed it perfectly. She released her red shell, watched as Luigi twisted in the air helplessly and bombed Princess Peach along to the finish line.

‘Yes!’ Kara jumped up with her hands in the air. Alex sat with open mouthed shock, that quickly turned into dread. ‘No vegan food for this belly!’ Kara patted her stomach and launched herself at Lena. ‘You’re the best!’ Lena laughed as she tried to steady herself in Kara’s enthusiastic arms.

‘What have I done?’ Alex mournfully sighed.

Winn swivelled on the floor to face Lena, excitement clearly written on his face.

‘Lena, are you into video games?’ Lena shrugged.

‘I have been known to dabble, I even made a game while I was studying at MIT. It was a good way to get to grips with certain types of coding.’ Winn’s eyes widened and his mouth sprang open.

‘How did I not know this about you?’ Kara asked.

‘There’s a lot you don’t know about me.’

‘I’ll bet,’ James muttered darkly around his beer. Despite hearing it, Kara chose to ignore it.

‘Are you… not just a genius, but a geek?!’ Winn asked optimistically. Lena laughed and shook her head.

‘No time for those kinds of hobbies I’m afraid.’ Winn’s disappointment was immediately evident. ‘running a company at the same time as solving crimes is very time consuming as it turns out.’

‘Well, Kara tells me you finished your investigations at L-Corp. The end of your investigative partnership should free you up,’ James interjected. Kara’s eyes widened and she hoped Alex was too distracted by Maggie to be paying attention. She sadly knew what was probably coming next.

‘Actually, Kara and I have just agreed on our next case. The first non-L-Corp case for us to work on.’ James choked a little on his drink and his brows raised rapidly.

‘Oh, you have? I would have thought now that Kara had solved all your company problems we’d be seeing less of you… busy running your company or some such.’ Lena had spent a lot of her life learning to deal with naysayers and snide comments. She was even well versed with blatant hatred. James comments were barely barbed, and she admirably kept her eyes from rolling.

‘Not at all. Who would give up spending time with their best friend?’ she smiled around the words and leant into Kara. Kara, who was now completely distracted from the impending doom because she was Lena’s best friend too.

‘So what’s this new case?’ Winn asked enthusiastically.

‘We’re going to help catch the criminals that Supergirl had a run in with today,’ Lena stated very matter of factly.

‘The one’s with the alien weapons?’ Winn nervously asked.

‘Exactly,’ Lena smiled, not noticing Alex’s deep-set frown.

‘Kara!’ That was definitely not a good tone of voice from Alex. It drew Kara from her dreamy _I’ve got a best friend_ thoughts and dowsed her with cold water.

‘Huh?’

‘When were you going to tell me about this?’

‘Whuuh?’ Kara looked around in confusion.

‘You’re chasing down alien weapon wielding thieves now?!’ Alex’s voice was demanding and she made no attempt to hide her frustrated anger. Kara shifted nervously.

‘Oh, right. That. Well, we really only just decided-‘ she halted at the sight of Alex’s meaningful look. This was a conversation that needed to happen away from people that didn’t know her secret identity.

‘We’ll talk about this later,’ she turned to Maggie, expression softening slightly, ‘we should get going.’

It wasn’t long before everybody was piling out the front door, leaving a mess for Kara to clean up. Lena was last to leave, she rounded up all the bottles and glasses and placed them awkwardly on the kitchen counter. She swallowed and built up her courage.

‘Does Alex still not like you working with me?’ Kara span around too fast and almost knocked over half the bottles on the counter.

‘What? No! Of course she doesn’t mind.’

‘She seems pretty unhappy about it to me.’ Lena rested her palms on the surface and carefully studied the backs of her hands.

‘It’s not that,’ Kara reached out and comfortingly gripped Lena’s hand, gently stroking her thumb across the knuckles. ‘She just doesn’t like me putting myself in danger… you’re not the danger in this instance. Just so you know. It’s the people we’re going to try and catch.’

‘Oh, that makes sense,’ Lena said, still not totally convinced.

‘I promise, Alex likes you. She doesn’t have a competitive rivalry with just anybody,’ Kara ducked down to catch Lena’s eyes, ‘she’s my big sister so she’s always going to be protective. But she’s not worried about you.’ Lena smiled and sighed into one of Kara’s safe sunshine hugs.

* * *

With her apartment empty once more, Kara’s thoughts drifted back to the days events. The Kryptonian man was still lying unconscious in the DEO. Kara didn’t want him to wake up in a strange place with strange beings. She wanted him to hear Kryptonese when he woke up.

She dropped out her window and flew through the night towards the secretive building. It was quiet, still operational but not the same bustle as during the day. She confidently strode through the halls to the med bay and there he lay. Still soundly sleeping.

She rolled a stool to his side and sat herself down. After the mess of Fort Rozz Kara didn’t imagine she’d ever see a real Kryptonian again. Kal was always just that little bit too human, never quite able to wrap his tongue around the Kryptonian alphabet, never able to share memories of Argo City. But here was someone who could prove all that wrong.

‘When I got to Earth it was so scary,’ it seemed the right thing to do, to talk to him. Though evidently, she hadn’t considered that English wasn’t the best choice of language. ‘I felt so alone and everything was so new. I had to learn so much.’

Kara sighed, wheeling the stool closer.

‘I’m going to be there for you though. I’m going to help you learn everything you need to. That way you won’t have to feel as alone as I felt.’ She noted the movement of his eyes under his eyelids, he must have been dreaming. ‘I promise, you’re not alone on this planet.’

His eyes shot open, he took in a deep gasping breath and looked around in confusion. Their gazes met and his hand shot out, wrapping around her throat.

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Wow, promise a guy you’ll be there for him and he tries to strangle you.  
No wonder it was girls from there on out for her._

_Not exactly a meet cute moment. And guess what, there was no music._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess music is kind of important for this fic so I've assembled the mentioned songs on spotify.  
> open.spotify.com/user/cxuz0ateeovucrjmr034gf6pa/playlist/1Rl3fv4cyF5nj3CScQHjOf  
> If the song isn't on spotify sadly I can't add it (so Jessie J - Sexy Silk from chapter two isn't there) but I'll keep it updated with the chapters.


	6. Hypothesising

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for my tardiness, this week has been unexpectedly busy. I had a lot of this chapter written yesterday but it wasn't proof read and I wanted to put a bit more in before I posted.
> 
> Spotify playlist is updated with this weeks tracks.  
> open.spotify.com/user/cxuz0ateeovucrjmr034gf6pa/playlist/1Rl3fv4cyF5nj3CScQHjOf?si=qya_s_9FQt-Zr7Nui1ZHbg
> 
> Thanks for the kudos and lovely comments guys, it keeps me going.

Girl of Steel, Maiden of Might, Blonde Blockbuster, Supergirl. Doesn’t really matter what you call her, there’s the assumption that she’s pretty solid. The world has seen her carry planes and submarines on her back. It’s seen her hold up skyscrapers, fall from the sky and defeat Superman. So even now, it’s always a bit of a surprise for her when she gets tossed across the room like she was an inflatable.

It’s not like it doesn’t happen regularly enough, that very day she’d already been launched through solid concrete. But it still knocked the wind out of her sails more than the inevitable crash landing did.

The firm grip around her throat tightened, her confusion was mirrored on his face. _Bad Kryptonian!_

‘Bỵsh,’ Kara implored, tapping his forearm. The use of Kryptonese seemed to aggravate him further and thus Kara found herself being tossed across the room. Despite the surprise, Supergirl was pretty adept in the art of crashing into things. She twisted in the air, cape flowing with her, and slammed her back into the wall, only taking out two very expensive pieces of equipment in the process.

The alien man leapt to his feet, yanking off all the sensors that had been carefully monitoring him. He stumbled out the door, looking every bit the lost and confused refugee that he was. DEO agents were quick to respond to his sudden hostility and surrounded him. But what’s a human to do against a bull in a china shop that has just discovered they don’t stock his desired tea pot and he has the power to destroy the shop?

The alien used his super speed to combat the agents trying to stop him from leaving. Kara heaved herself off the ground and jumped into the fray instead of sitting watching in a daze. She could handle this. There was no need to ruin Alex’s night by letting this get far enough out of hand that she’d need to be called in. Kara was already going to be in enough trouble with Alex as it was. She’d been Supergirl for over a year, this guy had just arrived on Earth and had no idea how to control his powers. Kara had the upper hand here.

He fought a lot like Kara had when Alex had first started training her. All aggressive strength and flailing arms. Kara was excited to finally be the Alex in this scenario. She countered his every swing, knocking him off balance and pushing him to the point of uncoordinated frustration. It wasn’t long before her tight fist was cracking across his jaw, sending him sailing into the wall before he slid to the floor, unconscious once more.

She hefted him over her shoulder, trudged to an empty cell, tossed him in and grumpily headed home for the night.

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Listen, you know how good my Kryptonese is. But when she told me this part of the story I genuinely thought she had continued in English and said ‘Bish’. I laughed hard thinking she was being choked and her reaction was so nonchalant.  
Upon reflection I don’t why I thought she would ever have said anything that resembled a curse word, even one that was a term of endearment._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

The following morning Lena was bored with a capital b. It turns out when you work stupidly long hours and hire someone efficient to do half your work you end up with not much to do. Sam was handling the expansion of the portfolio and Lena had tasked herself with scouring through the unsettling catalogue of design ideas Lex had left behind, just in case one of them wasn’t a weapon.

This sadly meant there was plenty of time for Lena to think. Granted, sometimes when Lena did some thinking great technological advances would be made. But today was not one of those occasions. _She doesn’t have a competitive rivalry with just anybody_. It kept repeating through her mind. Did that mean Alex Danvers was Lena’s friend? Lena had been so wrapped up in trying to understand how to be a good friend to Kara. Had she stumbled into another friendship completely blind? And if she had… well, winning over Alex was surely harder than Winn. So, was Winn her friend too? Did Lena have, count em, three whole friends?

This was a spiralling revelation for Lena. It seemed so unbelievable that further testing and hypothesising was required. She would need to refer to her observations on friendship. All the way back to that crappy dictionary definition. Mutual affection… well, how was Lena to know? Neither Alex nor Winn had barged into her office and loudly proclaimed themselves her friend. Neither of them were quite like Kara. Months of having Kara as a friend had led Lena to a regularly edited list of friend things.

  * Help each other ~~when in need~~ whenever possible. Say ‘that’s what friends are for’ when thanked… to reinforce friendship?
  * ~~Physical contact is very important!~~ (Now not so sure… Kara does not seem so tactile with Winn and James) Physical contact is important with ~~female friends?~~ best friends?
  * Give flowers or ~~gifts~~ food to brighten their day.
  * ~~Share everything~~. Share details of the day, funny stories and even the sad parts. (Sharing everything may be a **best** friend thing)
  * Argue with ~~people~~ everyone who says disparaging things about friend.
  * Lots of compliments (flirtatious?)



_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_She was sort of right I suppose…_

_All jokes aside though, when it came time to tell me this part of the story I was struck with realisation. She had no previous experience of how to be a good friend, how true friendly socialisation worked. She had always been an outcast, never gaining the experience most do in their youth. But she was almost instantly a better friend than most.  
She had encouraged and praised the CatCo articles at every given opportunity. She had been the only friend to support the human alter ego endlessly, to tell her she didn’t need superpowers to be and do good. The only friend that grounded her in her humanity._

_You understand of course that Aunt Alex is a sister first and foremost, and my sweeping statements do not overlook her._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

Before Lena could create a scatter graph to determine the correlation between time spent with Alex and Winn, and how many of the friendship acts were displayed, Sam strolled into the office. Eyes running across the papers shuffling in her hands, Sam failed to notice the startled expression on Lena’s face.

‘Just going to need your signature on a few things and then we should be good to go with the Galaxy Communications investment,’ Sam said slowly as she marked up the papers for Lena. She smiled proudly at Lena as she slid the papers onto the desk and flopped into the seat opposite. ‘I will be so glad when we get the companies finances back on track, I feel like I’m missing too much with Ruby at the moment,’ she quietly huffed.

‘If you need me to take over some of the work, I’d be happy too. If anything, L-Corp is running too efficiently right now,’ Lena said with a laugh.

‘Oh, no,’ Sam waved away Lena’s concerns, ‘this is my job Lena. I still can’t believe it sometimes, but I am so grateful you gave me this chance.’ Lena elegantly scrawled her signature across the papers after a cursory glance. Her eyes flickered up to Sam, she looked so relaxed in Lena’s presence. She was just becoming accustomed to this with Kara and her friends. But for someone else to sit across from Lena and not wonder when she was going to snap… it was strange. Then Sam opened her mouth to speak.

‘I’ve never had a boss like you before. I actually had to report my last boss to human resources five times… there’s a reason I made the move to L-Corp,’ Sam paused to give Lena a wry smile. ‘And it feels good to be working for a company with a soul too. You’ve really turned this company around. I feel like people probably don’t thank you enough for that.’

Lena was not good at taking compliments. She could gracefully accept the kind of compliment paid to her in meetings and at galas because they were all fake, meaningless. She could suffer through the backhanded compliments that her mother was so fond of. Awkwardly, ever since Kara had come around, being told she was a good person and getting compliments on her work was something she craved. Only, she still didn’t really know what to do with them. _Just say thank you and smile_. If only her mouth had listened to her brain.

‘Uh…’ she scrambled for the simple words, ‘that’s what friends are for.’ She had fixed a grin on her face but internally she was looking rather like Edvard Munch’s Scream painting. Spending time with Kara had apparently conditioned her to respond in only one way when she was being thanked.

Sam let out a full bellied laugh, delight radiating from her eyes.

‘I’m pretty sure friendship is simpler than dominating the business world and giving inexperienced heads of accounting the role of CFO,’ Sam’s face scrunched in confused amusement, ‘but I will gladly accept your friendship.’

Woah. Four! Lena Luthor might just have **four** fucking friends?! Lena was hopeful that she had carefully disguised her complete surprise at this miraculous turn of events. She neatened the papers and stepped around the desk to hand them directly to Sam. She couldn’t miss this chance to have another friend, and who wouldn’t want to be friends with a smart, friendly and caring woman like Sam?

‘Well, in that case, let me know when you’ve finished up with all the investments. We’ll celebrate the upcoming lull in paperwork. Bring Ruby and we can celebrate with ice cream. Ruby likes ice cream, right? It could be something else if she doesn’t.’ Sam’s heart just about melted right then. This put-together, strong, independent woman who was crushing her male counterparts left, right and centre, was worrying about impressing her daughter. She grinned wide, taking the papers from Lena.

‘You will be Ruby’s new favourite person if you take her for ice cream,’ Sam rested a hand on Lena’s shoulder, ‘and mine for that matter. I have a lot of grovelling to do with Ruby, this will be a great start.’

Sam left with a smile and small squeeze of Lena’s shoulder. Physical contact with female friends might have to go back on the list. The rules of friendship were proving to be particularly slippery. Lena sunk back into her chair still turning over thoughts of friendship when she wondered if Supergirl counted as a friend. They did favours for each other, Supergirl was as fiercely defensive of her as even Kara, there were compliments and yeah maybe some of the physical contact was because Supergirl was carrying Lena, but it wasn’t always necessary. And maybe she didn’t know anything about Supergirl really, but it was a secret identity for a reason. When it came to the gifts, she wouldn’t know where to send the flowers for Supergirl. So honestly, she was hitting all the friendship markers she could.

Wait! *record scratch* Hold on just a minute. Did Lena ‘no friends’ Luthor have FIVE friends?! She’s going to need a new nickname.

Well, on that point she wasn’t totally sure. There was definitely the possibility two of her friends were the same person. She wasn’t quite ready to hypothesise on that point too hard yet though, so five it is.

Anyway, at some point in her rambling thoughts Lena remembered her plan to do Supergirl a solid and solve the little theft problem plaguing National City’s elite lately. Lex’s designs were shoved aside, and Lena cracked her knuckles, ready to do some intense designing of her own.

* * *

 

Kara loved meeting people. Everyone was so different, there were endless possibilities of personality combinations. Meeting people was fun and exciting. Would they share her love of food, or music? Would they talk passionately about sport, science or art? Would they enjoy quiet conversation or loud adventure? People were fun to figure out and thus she loved meeting people. Sometimes meeting new people wasn’t good… she _was_ Supergirl, not everyone was fun to figure out. Sometimes they were a mind curdling level of disturbing. But on the whole people were fun.

What Kara did not love was meetings. She did not love them at CatCo, where they would blabber on about what colours and fonts they’d be using in the next issue or what fluff piece she’d be assigned next. Sometimes the meetings would even venture into possibly xenophobic ignorance, though Cat largely cracked down on that. She did not love meetings at the DEO either. A large number of them consisted of her being told she had forgotten to fill out paperwork again or Susan from accounting trying to blame her for the collateral damage caused in the last fight. Did she ask to be thrown straight through a skyscraper? No. Did she intend to put a crater in the middle of the intersection? No. Hardly Kara’s fault.

Today’s meeting was worse still. She had been summoned first thing in the morning, she had rolled her eyes and moved as slowly as possible through her morning routine. When she skulked into the DEO a faint hum of whispers rumbled around the room. On the one hand having super hearing was awesome, she knew what everyone was whispering. On the other hand, she knew she was in so much trouble with Alex.

There was only one person waiting for her in the small conference room. Alex sat back in a chair, feet up on the table, arms tightly crossed over her chest, frown set deep on her face. Kara scuffed her boots along the ground as she made her way to a seat begrudgingly. She flopped into a chair, gaze fixed on the table top and fingers anxiously twisting together.

‘He tried to break out, I was just trying to contain the situation, so you didn’t have to come in,’ Kara mumbled as a pre-emptive excuse. Alex’s boots thudded loudly as she let them drop from the table, her jaw clenching harder before she spoke between gritted teeth.

‘You think I give a shit about that asshole?’ Kara’s head snapped up to meet Alex’s eyes, irritation flaring wildly in the hazel tones.

‘Oh,’ she sighed as she remembered why she was in trouble. Her head bowed again, but this time in guilt rather than fear.

‘How many times have you been this close,’ Alex waved her forefinger and thumb millimetres apart, ‘to Lena finding out you’re Supergirl?’

‘I don’t know,’ she whispered softly with a shrug. ‘Would it be so bad if she knew? She’s my best friend Alex.’ Alex’s head tilted to one side as she examined her frustrating sister with disbelief.

‘What did I tell you the first time? And the second time? And the third time you asked me that?’

‘The less people that know, the safer everyone is,’ she sighed with defeat wrapping tightly around her words.

‘Yeah, and if you can agree you want to keep Lena safe… then why the fuck do you keep holding her hand as she runs head long into danger?!’ That one Kara knew the answer to. That one was easy. And this was when she was sure that the music she was hearing was only for her, only in her mind. This was when Sleeping At Last gently drifted through her consciousness with ‘I’ll Keep You Safe’.

‘If I’m holding her hand then I’m by her side when she needs me.’ Alex rested her forearms on the table as she clenched her fists and inhaled deeply.

‘Oh my God Kara!’ There were a great number of things Alex wanted to say to follow that up. Ranging from _just fucking kiss her already_ all the way to _how dense can you be? You must know that’s not what I meant!_

‘I know you weren’t too sure at first Alex, but she’s our friend. We protect friends.’

‘Then stop encouraging her to charge into trouble Kara!’

‘I’m not!’ Kara’s nostrils flared at the insinuation this was her fault. Alex was being just like stupid Susan from accounting. She pursed her lips and fidgeted in her seat, defiance knitting her brows together in a crinkle.

‘Oh, so Lena would be planning to hunt down criminals all on her lonesome, would she?’ Alex said with a challenging hardness to her expression.

‘Yes! She’s a good person, she wants to do good things Alex. I’m just trying to protect her. None of this has ever been my idea.’ Kara leant forward in her seat, meeting Alex’s challenging gaze. ‘If I had my way we’d just be watching films and eating take out on my sofa, or… or doing karaoke, or or or’ she stumbled, there where lots of ideas springing to mind, very few she wanted to share with Alex. ‘or going to that new ice cream parlour she was telling me about,’ she spouted triumphantly.

Alex’s eyes actually rolled so hard it hurt, and she let out what was probably the biggest sigh of her life. Then her thoughts were distracted by a familiar phrase. _New ice cream parlour_.

‘Don’t fall for the ice cream parlour trap!’ she suddenly said. ‘Find out the name of the place first, I guarantee it’s a vegan ice cream parlour.’ Even in the midst of her angry frustration with Kara she felt an overwhelming need to protect her sister from terrible horrors.

‘Noted,’ Kara nodded with her posture still ready for Alex’s full anger to return, ‘… thank you,’ she added quickly with a sweet smile.

Silence fell between them, Alex studying her sister and Kara waiting with nervous anticipation. There were so many reasons for Alex to put her foot down and demand Kara stop all of the ridiculousness. So many reasons for her to insist that Kara put herself before Lena. And worse still she couldn’t counterbalance them. There was only one reason to give in with a sigh. There was only protecting Lena Luthor.

If she hadn’t met Lena, the decision might have been easier. But she had, and she wanted to nurture the scrappy little bird with broken wings. It was too frustrating for Alex to put words to. She understood Kara’s need to protect Lena, she felt it too. Not in the same way, she was certain, but she wanted to see Lena soaring at her full potential. She wanted to shout at the world for stampeding over Lena in the panic caused by the Luthor scandal. _I’m getting soft. This is all Maggie’s fault._

She let out a defeated sigh.

‘Fine, it’s not like I can really stop you anyway,’ she stood up to grumpily plod out the room, ‘but you keep that damn secret identity under wraps and you keep her safe. Always have a back-up plan Kara.’

Kara jumped to her feet, loving grin set in place, darting towards Alex to wrap her in a tight hug.

‘Of course.’ Yeah, of course. A back-up plan… because DL Investigations made back-up plans for their non-existent plans all the time…

When Kara released Alex she continued to follow after her big sister.

‘So about the angry Kryptonian…’

‘Yeah… about him,’ Alex paused her steps, nervously rubbing at the back of her neck. ‘Winn’s finished his calculations, we don’t think he came from Krypton Kar.’

‘But… the pod,’ Kara looked glumly at the floor. It was barely nine o’clock in the morning and today was already an emotional rollercoaster.

‘I can’t explain that, but it came from a planet called Daxam.’

Kara’s head shot up to meet Alex’s sympathetic eyes.

‘Daxam?’

‘That’s what Winn said.’

‘Ugh!’ Kara threw her hands in the air. ‘This day just gets worse and worse!’

‘You want to clue me in as to why?’ Alex was carefully and subtly leading Kara towards the cell containing the Daxamite.

‘Imagine the worst fraternity of drunks and promiscuous tools.’

‘Okay…’

‘Now think worse and you’ve got the entire Daxamite race,’ Kara groaned. ‘Kryptonians wanted to understand the universe and advance, the Daxamites were the Kryptonians that wanted to party. They splintered off, started their own society ruled by a monarchy. Our races did not get along.’

‘Oh cool, so he’s gonna be thrilled to see you again,’ Alex said guiltily as she slapped the button to open the door and shoved Kara in. ‘Find out what you can, love you.’ She skittered away, closing the door behind Kara.

Kara turned awkwardly to see the Daxamite sat sullenly in his cell. He studied her as she approached, taking in the house crest proudly adorning her chest.

‘ehrosh :bem’ she said slowly, elongating the sounds, her hands splayed at her sides. He looked at her in disgust, unwilling it seemed to speak to her. Maybe he objected to the language choice. She started again, ‘hello.’

This time he simply looked at her in confusion. Unsurprisingly he was not familiar with the English language. Kara’s shoulders sagged and she turned away. He thumped on the glass behind her, making her swivel back to face him. His finger raised and he pointed through the glass to the crest on her chest.

‘El,’ he said flatly. Kara smiled at the recognition and was ready to strike up a friendly conversation with him until he spat at the glass separating them. _Oh, well that’s just rude!_

She huffed out of the room and grumpily informed Alex of her zero progress. She was already late for work and no doubt Cat would make one her comments that had two meanings. They always panicked Kara, she wasn’t sure why because whether Cat knew her secret of not, it was safe. 

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_I have asked Cat numerous times how long she knew the identity of National City’s hero.  
Every single time I have received a different answer…_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

Kara had just gotten herself comfortable at her desk, ready to write a piece on National City’s best cat cafés, when Eve popped up. Kara had carefully selected Eve to take over her role as Cat’s personal assistant, she had found someone as bright and sunny as herself, someone she knew would carry out her tasks with efficiency. But she was beginning to dislike Eve. Not for anything the woman had done really, it was just she had an annoying habit of popping up and disrupting her day by saying “Miss Grant wants to see you” in that tone of voice that meant “Miss Grant wants to yell at you”. And Kara was late for work again.

She took a calming breath, put on her best, albeit tight, smile and turned to face Eve.

‘Good morning Eve, Miss Grant wants to see me?’

‘Yeah,’ she replied with an apologetic head dip.

‘I’ll be over in a minute.’ Eve swallowed nervously, people did not normally put off doing what Cat Grant asked of them. She was torn between informing Kara that in a minute was unacceptable and simply returning to her desk hoping that Cat’s foul mood would not turn on her.

Kara was herself in a bad mood. _Daxamites are so… tacky_. And bad mood Kara tended to be a little petty. If she was going to be shouted at by Cat, then Cat could damn well wait a minute while she finished her coffee. She took a long sip while looking over notes on the cafés. She really regretted not taking James along to take pictures because those cats were adorable.

Eve was still hovering, not wanting to head back into Cat’s line of sight without Kara. Rolling her head to look at Eve irritably Kara sighed and slammed down her cup.

‘Or I guess I’ll go now,’ she muttered.

Hadn’t Kara been looked at with enough disapproval for the day? She trudged into Cat’s office like it was the principal’s office and waited for Cat’s eyes to flicker up to meet hers.

‘Would you consider yourself our resident expert on alien technology?’ _I knew it! I knew she’d say one of those things I don’t know how to respond to!_

‘Uh…’ Kara’s face flushed, and she awkwardly shimmied the frames of her glasses.

‘Well, come on. You’ve been writing enough articles on aliens and L-Corp tech, you must know more than the rest of the press pit of stumbling worker bees.’ Cat gestured out the door to the bustle of the office. Kara rubbed at the nape of her neck, taking a nervous gulp of air.

‘I guess. Usually Lena explains all the science to me in layman’s terms.’ Excellent work Kara, no one needs to know you were top of the class in an advanced race of science nerds.

‘Well then I suggest you consult with Miss Luthor on this one,’ Cat slid a sheet of paper with a few notes scribbled across it towards Kara. ‘I want you to give me a story on the alien technology being used by criminals in the city.’ That was… convenient. And unexpected.

‘But the cat caf-‘

‘Is a fluff piece and you know it. Drop it, I want you working on this.’ Kara picked up the piece of paper and stood silently gazing at the scrawl of misinformation, none of it would prove any use whatsoever. ‘That is all,’ she shooed Kara away with the wave of her hand, eyes already back on her own work.

Kara’s feet worked of their own accord, taking her back to her desk while she tried to organise her thoughts. Maybe today wasn’t going to be totally awful after all. Alex had calmed down, she hadn’t gotten shouted at by Cat, and now she was being handed a free pass to go see Lena for legitimate work reasons. She thought she was beginning to understand her personal juke box, so she was pretty sure another song was on it’s way.

In truth Kara was still far from figuring it out. She packed up her things, slung her bag over her shoulder and skipped off to the elevator, all with no music. She may have excitedly flown towards L-Corp and a loop-the-loop may have been a part of the flight pattern. But still no music.

Kara merrily pranced by Jess, sliding an apple turnover across her desk and continuing on to Lena’s office. She pushed the door open and caught a glimpse of Lena for the first time that day.

Lena was surrounded by sketches, equations and balled up paper. She was curled around her coffee table, veil of silky black hair framing her face. Her pale skin shone like it always did when Lena wore red in that office. Kara was awestruck. The music softly swept in with quiet angelic chords before really kicking into high gear. Russell Dickerson was crooning ‘You Look Like A Love Song’ in Kara’s head and she was rooted firmly in place, mouth agape and eyes fixed.

Lena was so focused on her work that she completely missed Kara’s entrance. She excitedly ran through a mind bogglingly long equation, lower lip caught between her teeth. They remained that way until the song finished it’s run. Four minutes and thirty-seven seconds of Kara staring at Lena in complete reverence. Four minutes and thirty-seven seconds of Kara’s mind putting all the pieces of the jigsaw together. And as soon as the song ended? She flipped to table and scattered the jigsaw pieces to the corners of her mind.

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_*Sigh*  
So. Damn. Useless._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_  

She shook her head, swallowing hard before bouncing forward excitedly and folding onto the floor across the low table from Lena. She looked up from her work, teeth releasing her lip to allow a huge smile to spread across her face.

‘Kara!’ She shuffled through her papers in search of a tablet, ‘I’m glad you’re here. I’ve been working on our case, sort of.’

‘You have?’ Kara finally looked at the formula and sketches properly. They were pretty complicated, but Kara could see what Lena was up to. She was attempting to replicate the guns, and though many would suspect a Luthor of devious intentions for that alone, Kara did not. She followed the notes and scribbles until she saw exactly what Lena was doing. She had, all in theory of course, designed the weapons and in doing so had found their weakness.

‘Yes look,’ Lena said proudly as she turned the tablet to face Kara. It displayed a map of National City, four locations pinpointed. ‘I created a programme to find correlations between attack locations and I think I’ve narrowed down the list of places they are most likely to target next.’ Lena shuffled around the coffee table to sit beside Kara.

‘How long have you been working on this?’ Kara said with suspicion, she had only agreed to do this yesterday. Lena turned her wrist elegantly, checking the time on her watch.

‘Uh… about two hours and forty minutes.’ Kara’s eyes widened, she looked at the sprawling mass of paper covered in Lena’s scribbles and the neat programme she had made. She looked back at Lena’s face, blinking in disbelief.

‘I take back every time I questioned your genius. Lena, you’re like a computer yourself,’ Kara tugged Lena closer with an arm across her shoulders, ‘that brain of yours is amazing!’ She placed her free hand on Lena’s forehead and tilted it until she could plant a kiss on top of Lena’s head.

Lena was relieved beyond belief that Kara could not see her face. The combination of unbreakable smile and heated flush would do nothing to conceal how she felt about her best friend. Her heart was pounding in her chest, painfully demanding release, determined to jump out of its cage and present itself to Kara.

When Kara released her grip on her she busied herself with her papers to avoid Kara’s gaze. Kara heard the intense thumping of Lena’s heart. _Maybe that was inappropriate, I’ve obviously distressed her._

‘Sorry about that. I got a bit carried away,’ she sputtered quickly. Lena shook her head rapidly with a faint laugh.

‘Don’t worry about it Kara, it was nice to have someone appreciate my work. It makes quite the change from “your brother could have done that in half the time”.’ Kara was caught between wanting to run out, find Lillian Luthor and slap her silly, and wanting to give Lena all the praise she deserved. Neither of which seemed entirely appropriate.

‘Well, next time you go on one of your genius rampages I’ll be there to cheer your wondrous successes. And I bet Lex isn’t half as smart as you are.’ Lena turned to Kara with a sly grin and a raised brow.

‘Maybe, as I’m a Luthor, we shouldn’t call them “genius rampages”.’

‘Oh… right, yeah. Uh… Science wizard frenzies?’ Lena let out a soft chuckle.

‘Science wizard?’

‘Listen, Lena. This,’ she gestured to the paper work, ‘is science magic. You’re a wizard Lena!’ Lena squinted at Kara and chewed on her lip.

‘Was that a Harry Potter reference?’

‘Um…’ she glanced away briefly, ‘maybe?’ she squeaked. A laugh rumbled from deep within Lena’s chest.

‘You’re a real dork, you know that?’ Kara just shrugged in reply and picked amongst the notes.

Lena watched Kara’s profile for some time before her thoughts collected and aligned.

‘Thank you,’ she said seemingly out of nowhere.

‘What for?’

‘You’re the first person that has ever mentioned my brother without complete disgust. He wasn’t always bad… I miss the person he used to be.’ Kara awkwardly wiggled on the carpet until she was sitting cross legged, facing Lena.

‘Tell me about him.’ Lena, who had been anxiously picking at the carpet with downcast eyes, suddenly stared deep into Kara’s shining blue oceans. Her mouth opened and closed a few times as she tried to find the words to describe her brother.

‘I must have been about eight when I got flu one year, my mother was not happy. “Luthors don’t get ill Lena. You’re still going to school.” I felt so rotten the whole week and I just wanted to curl up and sleep. Every day when I got home from school Lex would build me a new blanket fort and he’d get the cooks to make me chicken noodle soup. He didn’t really know how to make me feel better, but he tried and it meant so much.

Then when I had recovered he volunteered to be the one to drive me to school one morning. He actually argued with mother about it until she relented and let him. But we drove right past the school and he took me to a fair ground that had been set up outside Metropolis. He spent the whole day going on rides with me even though the ones he wanted to go on were too scary for me, we must have gone on the tea cups five times. And we stuffed our faces with hot dogs and cotton candy.’ Lena’s eyes were slowly turning glossy with a sheen of tears. She shook her head to tamp down the emotions and refocused on the now.

‘Of course, mother was furious when she found out. And it was all my fault, Lex would never have done such a thing if I hadn’t encouraged him.’

Kara knew that pain. Having someone you thought so highly of, loved so much, turn into something so ugly. She wanted to tell Lena all about her parents, to share the load so that they could both be stronger. But she couldn’t. So instead she leant forward and pulled Lena into her warmest hug. It was an awkward angle, not entirely comfortable but neither of them wanted to let go. 

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_I once asked her whether she had ever heard music in those moments so important to the pair of them._

_She assured me that she hadn’t, for which she was eternally grateful. Her track list would not have been nearly as eclectic or interesting. And it would simply have been another way for her mind to overthink and intrude on her day.  
She said ‘I think it would have consisted of a selection of eighties power ballads ranging from ‘I Want To Know What Love Is’ to ‘Holding Out For A Hero’._

_However, this moment in their story was the one time she could think of when, even though it didn’t play, she was reminded of a song._

_Florence and the Machine – Never Let Me Go_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

The hug did eventually break, both of them denying how much it meant to them. One of them more than the other… Kara…

In an attempt to sweep the feelings back into the vault she usually stored them in Lena pretended an excessively long hug had not just happened.

‘So, what brings you to my office today anyway?’

‘Oh,’ Kara lightly tapped the palm of her hand on her forehead, ‘duh. Miss Grant wants me to write an article on the fellas you want to catch. Serendipity, right?’

‘Serendipity indeed,’ Lena smiled, ‘does that mean we have free reign to work on this without you getting into trouble for skipping work?’

‘I think so? I’m not sure, but she did say I should consult you because you understand all the sciencey stuff.’

‘Hmm, I’ll have to think about it,’ Lena tapped a finger on her chin with a thoughtful expression. ‘What’s the going rate for sciencey stuff consultant at CatCo?’ Kara giggled and clasped her hands together in a pleading prayer.

‘One friend forever in your debt and lunch.’

‘Deal,’ Lena said with a cheerful smile, darting her hand out to shake on it. Lena’s tablet let out a soft beep and drew their attention.

‘What does that mean?’

‘That I was right,’ she said with pride, ‘the thieves are currently at one of the most expensive hotels in the city.’ Kara’s muscles tensed, ready to jump into action.

‘They are?’ Lena twisted and grasped the tv remote to turn on the news. Kara’s DEO phone started buzzing at the same time. _Shoot, they are._

‘I’ve um… just remembered… I have a dentist appointment,’ Kara rambled as she got to her feet and rushed out the door.

That was definitely suspicious. Lena couldn’t ignore that… surely?

Unfortunately, Lena ‘over thinker’ Luthor was too busy thinking about something else. Rather disappointingly these thieves had struck before she’d even had chance to create a prototype. And frankly, she needed more data before she could be confident of her success.

The hotel was three blocks away, the footage NC News was showing was pretty useless, all taken on mobile phones because once again they’d failed to get a proper camera crew to the scene. She jumped to her feet, asked Jess to have her driver outside pronto as she zipped past, and headed down to the labs.

* * *

 

The hotel in question was The Opulence. Thinking itself worthy of a kinship with places such as The Ritz, it put on elevenses as an overpriced treat for the rich and unemployed. The perfect target for a gang hell bent on taking what they could from the rich and generously keeping it for themselves.

When Kara appeared, clad in Supergirl red and blue, she gently landed outside the canopied entrance. The last fight hadn’t gone so well for her and nothing had really changed since then. Her only saving grace was that this time she knew those guns packed a punch and she should probably avoid getting hit by them.

Alex and Winn were already bickering about the best tactics over the comms and Kara sighed heavily.

‘Don’t sigh at us, Kara. We’re trying to keep your butt safe,’ Alex grumbled.

‘I was just sighing! I didn’t say anything.’

‘We know what that sigh meant,’ Winn replied.

‘I need to yawn, am I allowed to yawn or will that be counted as a coded message too?’

‘Ooooh,’ Alex sing-songed, ‘someone is sassy. What’s the matter Kar, not seen Lena today?’

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ Kara just knew that if Winn and Alex were in the same room they’d be sharing a knowing look that she didn’t understand.

‘Nothing…’ Alex replied with a tone voice that meant _everything_ , ‘just surprised you haven’t dragged her along for the danger.’

‘I’ll have you know that I was with Lena when you called and look at me… not dragging her along. Because I don’t try and put her in danger Alex!’ Kara could vividly imagine Alex rolling her eyes at that very moment.

‘Oh… she just happened to be with Lena. What. A. Surprise,’ Winn chuckled and Alex tried her best to stifle her own laughter.

‘Anyway, my team is seven minutes out. You got it until then?’

‘We’re about to find out I guess.’

A smart hero, knowing they didn’t have their usual overpowered advantage, would probably have kept out of sight and used the element of surprise to level the playing field somewhat. And Kara _was_ smart (still is). I swear she was. But she stood outside the front door with hands on hips, in full view of anyone thinking about leaving the hotel.

At least she looked heroic with her red cape flapping in the light breeze. You can look heroic even while doing something really dumb.

For a few moments she wondered if maybe she should head into the building and start fighting crime. But she did at least have the forethought to realise more harm than good would have been done if those weapons fired inside. So she waited, almost patiently, until they charged out with a bag full of jewellery and cash.

The trio let out excited laughs when they pointed their guns at Supergirl. Kara was quick off the mark with her laser vision, but all four of them ducked and weaved until they were in cover and no one had hit a single one of their intended targets.

Then something caught Kara’s eye and the music was back. Like a still from a movie Kara examined the scene. Across the road she could see a defiant Lena Luthor with her arm swung forward, a small object brushing past her fingertips as she released it. Mozart’s ‘Lacrimosa’ was slowly running through her thoughts as she turned to see a trigger finger squeeze, a bolt of energy bound for Lena.

There were two major trains of thought taking up her higher thinking processes, and one minor. One: _Noooooo!_ Two: _Alex is going to be insufferable_. And the minor: _What in Rao’s name is Lena doing!?_

Well, as far as Kara was concerned there was only one way to fix this catastrophe from happening. If she’d had the time it would have been a slow, confident stride into position. But she didn’t. She launched herself directly into line of fire, bracing herself for impact with slightly bent knees and clenched fists. It was going to hurt, but not as much as losing Lena would.

Suddenly time seem to return to it’s usual speed and everything happened in a rush.

Lena’s projectile sailed through the air, dropping at the feet of the gang’s leader.  Not who she was aiming for, but hey she’ll take it. The bolt of energy slammed into Supergirl’s chest, knocking the air from her lungs and sending her crashing backwards through a bakery.

Lena ducked out of sight with a pit of fear sitting heavily in her gut, Supergirl’s exit had not been promising. There was still her gadget though. An EMP grenade she was hoping would do something to help her hypotheses. There was no bang or flash, no sign it had even gone off besides the small stutter in the leader’s weapon. Providing enough distraction for Supergirl to blearily return and melt a whole through the weapon.  

Dropping his now defective toy, he called for his friends to retreat. They hurriedly disappeared into the city while Supergirl was distracted checking on Lena with an unsteady gaze. Dusted in flour Supergirl rushed to Lena’s side, scanning her for injury and finding no more than a paper cut from earlier that morning.

‘Supergirl, I’m glad you’re okay.’

‘What were you thinking!?’ Okay, Kara had not meant to sound angry. She had meant to lightly scold her friend and hope that she’d learn from her mistake. But, still raw from the worry of what could have happened, Kara slipped into angry.

‘I was thinking I need more data if we’re going to stop those guys,’ Lena said with impressive defiance. ‘And look, the EMP worked a little bit.’

‘You could have been killed Lena!’

‘It was a risk,’ Lena tried her best to disguise a nervous gulp, ‘but it paid off. We have one of the weapons now. I can work with that and come up with something to combat them.’

‘We’re almost there Supergirl. Update?’ Kara heard Alex’s commanding voice in her ear. _Rao, I’m going to be in so much trouble with Alex_.

‘They got away, some collateral damage,’ she said quickly before turning off her comms.

‘Alex can’t know you were here.’ Lena’s head cocked to one side.

‘Kara’s sister?’

‘Uh… nope… different Alex.’ Kara flashed across the street, picked up the weapon and reappeared in front of Lena. ‘Here take this,’ she placed the weapon in Lena’s hands, causing her to stagger slightly at the unexpected weight, ‘and get out of here before it ends up as government property.’

Lena’s mouth fell open and she stared blankly at Supergirl. She felt gentle hands push her back towards L-Corp and her head twisted over her shoulder to keep looking at Supergirl in shock.

‘You’re letting me have this?’

‘Yeah, now work your science magic,’ she continued to shoo Lena along the street before turning her comms back on and trying her best to look as though she alone had been beaten and Lena Luthor had been nowhere near the fight.

Lena stumbled back to L-Corp, trying _her_ best not to look like the villain everyone thought she was while she carried an alien rifle. It was a tough act to pull off and she definitely would have been perturbed by some of the looks she was receiving had she not been preoccupied.

_Science magic… that’s way too close to science wizard… she’s giving me a broken superweapon without me even needing to explain exactly why…_ Her eyes were darting all over the place, hoping for an answer that didn’t burst her five friends bubble. _Supergirl trusts me with a weapon that can hurt her. Supergirl trusts a Luthor. Wait a minute… did Kara say she had a dentist appointment? What the fuck? She’s an awful liar._  

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Don’t cheer for her just yet…_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_  

When Alex arrived at the scene there wasn’t much for her to see. A bakery that had been wrecked by a Kara sized cannonball, a few scorch marks and… she squinted her eyes, an EMP grenade? She ignored Kara’s rambling rundown of the events and strode purposefully toward the tech on the ground. She picked it up and noted Kara’s nervous shuffle.

‘What’s this?’ She asked, Kara shrugged. ‘Looks like an EMP grenade to me…’

‘Well, you know more about these things than me,’ she smiled and there was definitely something off here. Alex studied the grenade and looked up at Kara.

‘Where do you think it came from?’

Kara shrugged again but mumbled a response too.

‘Maybe one of the bad guys dropped it.’

Alex damn well knew it. Kara was a big fat liar.

‘You think the bad guys dropped an EMP with the L-Corp brand on it?’ Kara grimaced. _Why do rich people have to put their name on everything?!_

‘Right… about that…’ she scrambled for any explanation other than Lena rocked up and tossed it before nearly getting herself killed. ‘Lena gave it to me… to use… when I was fighting those guys.’

‘Gave it to you Supergirl, or you Kara?’ Alex quietly muttered. Kara’s eyes darted around, hoping someone was holding up a sign with the right answer on it.

‘Uh, me Supergirl?’

‘You sure about that?’ Alex’s narrowed eyes were boring into Kara’s soul. Her insides were twisting, and she felt sick. Lying to Alex sucked.

‘Ugh, no. Fine. She didn’t give it to me. She turned up herself and she threw it. Okay? You happy now? She ran into trouble again and I had to protect her again!’ Alex sighed and shook her head.

‘Did it work?’ she asked curiously, and surprisingly without anger.

‘No,’ Kara said sullenly, ‘not really.’

‘Shame. And Lena is fine?’

‘Yeah. I sent her back to L-Corp.’

‘Good,’ Alex said with a nod. ‘Don’t forget to fill out a report for this before you head back to L-Corp yourself.’ Kara’s brow knitted together in her confused crinkle.

‘How do you know I’m going back to L-Corp?’

Alex turned away with another shake of her head, heading for the DEO vehicles.

‘Just a hunch,’ she called over her shoulder with a smirk.


	7. Only Some Regrets

Winn jumped at the sound of Kara dumping a clipboard on the desk next to him. He swivelled in his chair to see Supergirl flopping into a spare chair and slumping over the paperwork with a forlorn look on her face.

‘Do you remember when you first started being a superhero?’ he quietly asked.

‘Yeah?’ her eyes narrowed in confusion.

‘I can honestly say that I did not think your superhero archnemesis would turn out to be paperwork.’

‘Oh, ha ha,’ she scribbled the name “Supergirl” on the form and dropped the pen again, ‘what’s up with you and Alex ganging up on me over comms lately?’

‘I wouldn’t call it ganging up on you, think of it as loving banter,’ he said with an innocent smile.

‘Well, why does all this “loving banter” have to involve Lena?’ she made her air quotations very obvious as she spoke, ‘I know neither of you have a problem with her being a Luthor.’ Winn’s expression changed to that of a child caught with his greedy hand in the cookie jar.

‘It doesn’t…’ he unconvincingly stated.

‘It absolutely does! And worse still, I get it from Alex in person now too,’ she whined. ‘This is your fault, you encouraged her. Now she’s doing things like assuming I’m heading back to L-Corp after this,’ she gestured to the incredibly incomplete incident report in front of her.

‘Well, aren’t you?’ Winn waggled his eyebrows. Kara huffed in frustration and knocked his chair with her foot, sending it skimming across the room. The motion caught him completely unprepared as he slipped out of the seat and crashed onto his backside. He nodded to himself in resignation.

‘Alright, I probably deserved that.’ He shuffled back to his chair and shimmied towards Kara in ungainly fashion. ‘We’ve just noticed how much time you’ve been spending with Lena lately is all.’

‘Well, duh. She’s my friend.’ Winn slowly raised an eyebrow and smiled to himself.

‘Don’t think you’ve ever had a _friend_ like Lena before…’ The meaning of Winn’s sentence didn’t just elude Kara, it flew so far over head that any hope of seeing it would have been blocked by passing planes.

‘She is pretty amazing,’ Kara said with a smile. Winn turned back to his computer with a fond shake of his head and his fingers began to skitter across the keyboard, leaving Kara to finish her report.

‘What’s happening with that daxamite?’ Kara really had an aversion to paperwork, she’d rather talk about a guy from Daxam that spat at her than fill out a tiny incident report.

‘Working on a programme to teach him English as we speak,’ Winn muttered distractedly.

Kara didn’t really have any follow up questions for that. Her frown set deep and she reluctantly picked the pen back up.

[Location] an easy one to begin with, she carefully looped out the letters for The Opulence.

[Parties involved] ‘I wish,’ Kara muttered. It was always her response, it seemed to entertain her every time. She scribbled “Supergirl” and faltered, she wasn’t about to put Lena’s name in an official report. It was one thing to tell Alex, because Alex thought like a person with a warm beating heart. Telling the government that Lena Luthor had turned up with a grenade, of any variety, was a massive no-no for Kara. Because the government thought like a robot with an icy stone for a heart.

So it was just Supergirl versus those guys with the alien weapons. Not knowing their names made filling out the form hard, but she was ready to demonstrate her rebellion against paperwork. “Those guys with the alien weapons” was neatly written in the box. And why stop a rebellion there?

[Incident details] A fight. I ended up in bakery. Bad guys got away.

Instead of signing her name she doodled a little ‘El’ symbol and clicked the pen with a satisfied nod.

‘Done,’ she sighed. Winn looked over at her, noticing the low word count. He wheeled a little closer and scanned over her report. His eyebrow cocked.

‘You know it sounds like you got bored fighting and went for a cake in the bakery, letting the bad guys get away?’ Kara shrugged.

‘Nobody reads these stupid things anyway.’ All this talk of bakeries had given Kara an idea. She was keen to get back in the skies. She got up excitedly before Winn interrupted her train of thought.

‘Oh, James said if I saw you I should remind you about lunch,’ Supergirl’s feet comically stopped midstride. Right, she hadn’t seen much of James lately and she had planned to have lunch with him to catch up. Her foot softly fell back to the ground with a poorly disguised sigh. She’d never considered a friendship an inconvenience before. But this lunch with James, that had been arranged a week ago, really ruined the plans that she had made less than two minutes ago.

‘Right,’ she smiled politely over her shoulder at Winn, ‘thanks. See you later.’ _Rats, sugar and fooey!_ She internally screamed at her scuppered plan. The clock on the wall caught her eye and she made a new plan.

* * *

Lena made it all the way back to L-Corp and into her personal lab without a single person trying to make a citizen’s arrest. Which is definitely something she would have celebrated given the circumstances, except she was a little preoccupied.

Lena was not ready to acknowledge the possibility that her first true fried, her best friend was hiding anything as big as a superhero identity from her. That would mean Kara lied to her, regularly. That would hurt too much. So Lena’s usually genius mind provided a flimsy alternative.

_I wonder how often Supergirl listens in on my conversations with Kara. And where did Kara really go? Nobody runs to the dentist… Oh God, it was probably the hug. I knew that hug lasted too long. She’s probably just avoiding me now._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_…yep.  
The look on your face right now is almost certainly a mirror image of mine._

_I told you not to cheer._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

It was a common misconception that Lena Luthor’s stoic, emotionless reputation was formed in the L-Corp boardroom. In fact, it began long before then in the Luthor Corp labs. A woman in the engineering field was already unfortunately somewhat anomalous, add to that her workaholic tendencies, her penchant for skipping meals, her laser precision focus and her extraordinarily efficient productivity. Lena was oft considered a robot by her colleagues.

It was this robotic nature that she felt compelled to sink into when pummelled from all angles by questions too painful to answer. She had an alien weapon to deconstruct, understand, replicate and combat.

When Supergirl, passing by on her way to lunch with James, looked in on Lena in her lab, Lena in what everyone had called her robot mode, Kara saw something quite different. Kara saw beauty in every movement she made. Kara saw the glint of excited inspiration shining in Lena’s endlessly fascinating eyes, the exquisite elegance in the lines of her body every time she stretched a pale arm across the work bench, the swan like crane of her neck as she intensified her gaze. Kara noticed the calming breathing pattern Lena fell into when things weren’t going to plan, noticed the slight grimace as her heels pained her, noticed the inky strands tumbling from the quick bun she had tied her hair into.

Kara could have studied Lena as though she were a masterpiece worthy of sitting along side Venus de Milo, for… well, we may never know how long she could spend studying Lena because it’s still and ongoing observation. But at that precise time, Kara was running late and had to despondently stop gazing at her best friend in completely platonic awe.

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_If I had to sit through these intense (and frankly awkward) descriptions of her, then you bet your ass you are going to have to suffer through them too._

_Don’t even hope that this is the last time there’ll be a focused study of “the most beautiful woman in the whole universe”._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

Mid afternoon Lena was dragged, almost kicking and screaming, from her lab by Jess. She had skipped lunch, as was not wholly unexpected, and was about to be late for a meeting, which was far less anticipated. There were many stresses to being Lena Luthor’s personal assistant, but Jess considered Lena’s punctuality to be one of the counterbalancing perks. She wasn’t about to let her lapse in that regard.

Lena, to this day, has very little notion of what that meeting was about. She was all but pushed in through the door. She sat down at the head of the table, her subconscious mind taking control of the power play choices, blocking a man whose name she still doesn’t know. She hummed thoughtfully when it seemed appropriate. She even looked like she was taking notes, though what she was actually scribbling were shorthand notations on her current research project.

That was the day that proved the incredible importance of Sam as CFO (and friend?). Sam noticed Lena’s well disguised distraction. Throughout three months of DL Investigations Sam had been privy to Lena’s more distracted moments. She knew the look well and knew Lena was about to be asked a very focused question to which she would have no answer.

Sam cleared her throat, stopping the question before it tumbled from Mr Bracken’s lips. She subtly nudged Lena in the hopes she’d glean all the information she might need from the next three sentences.

‘I’ve been very careful with my examination of the fiscal reports Mr Bracken. CatCo’s shares are steadily rising and the liabilities are minimal. I can only wonder why you believe we should miss this opportunity to invest.’

‘Yes well, there’s a reason we asked for the CEO to attend today’s meeting,’ he replied with a patronising grin. ‘Miss Luthor, your thoughts?’

Lena slowly glanced around the room. There were a few familiar faces that she couldn’t put a name to, a few faces she didn’t recognise at all… a-ha! She could name that slimy little snake. Morgan Edge. Maxwell Lord, and was that… Cat Grant? This was probably a big business meeting. She should probably have been paying attention. Oh well, winging it will have to do.

‘Mr Bracken,’ she levelled her intimidating gaze at him, ‘L-Corp takes pride in it’s staff, I have no doubt in my mind that when my CFO tells me now is the perfect time to invest in CatCo that is exactly what my company should be doing. Unless you are privy to information you should not be, I doubt you have any way to convince me to the contrary. And, should you have such information I’m sure Miss Grant would like to speak with you privately.’ Lena smiled tightly and gave Cat a small nod.

Sam very gracefully held back the smug grin that she so desperately wanted to flash at Mr Bracken, content to simply sink once more into the background of the meeting, knowing she had helped Lena as best she could.

Lena relaxed back into her chair too, idly running through equations that no other person in that room could even attempt to understand. For the first time in a very long time Lena’s mind was full steam ahead but it wasn’t intrusive. Something she might have been more inclined to notice had the more sinister voices in her mind not been muted somewhat over the last three months.

The meeting seemed never ending, particularly once Lena realised she wanted to refer to notes she had made in the morning and left in her office. She fidgeted irritably, longing to get back to some _real_ work. Work that meant something, work that would help her friend Supergirl, work that might impress her best friend Kara.

She didn’t really hear what Cat had said but she noticed Sam laugh, figured it was probably a witty yet cutting remark and joined in with her own snigger. Then everyone was standing and she was free, free at last! She darted round the table, shaking hands, thanking everyone for very useful input and quickly made her escape.

Freedom!

She sighed with relief when she closed her office door and let her back rest against it. Her eyes closed and she excitedly wiggled, knowing pure inspiration was going to strike as soon as she could just refer to those formulae from the morning.

Everything was pretty much where she left it. Papers were still scattered across the coffee table, but a few had been blown off, which was odd. There were no windows to be open and cause a draft. She turned to look at the balcony and the door was very obviously closed. How peculiar.

Then her gaze caught site of a new addition to her office. A small paper plate, pinning down a hurriedly written note.

Lena, I didn’t mean to sound so angry earlier, sorry.  
Thank you for trying to help.  
Kara told me this was your favourite, I hope I found the right place. It turns out there are a lot of bakeries in Dublin.

Supergirl

Lena’s eyes widened as she realised the mouth-wateringly inviting piece of mudslide cheesecake had been flown all the way from Ireland, just for her. She wasn’t sure which touched her more, the thought that Supergirl was so extravagant in her apology, that Supergirl felt the need to apologise to a Luthor, that Supergirl and Kara talked about Lena and apparently in a positive light, or that Kara had remembered a brief mention and had thought it important enough to tell Supergirl.

Her lower lip was firmly grasped between her teeth. This was doing absolutely nothing for her attempts to wrangle her emotions. What could she possibly use to defend her heart against such care? _How could I not fall for at least one of them?_ Lena’s heart was a mess of tangled strings, both Kara and Supergirl tugging them melodically. Ultimately Lena knew exactly who would win in a contest for her affections but was extraordinarily confident neither one would be anything but horrified by her more clichéd fantasies.

She slouched in her chair pondering the inconvenience of romantic feelings while savouring the cheesecake.

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_She refused to tell me exactly what fantasies they were, so of course I wretched at the thought of what they could be. I received a brutal smack to the arm, I nearly went to the police to file a complaint…_

_She said I needed to get my mind out of the gutter because that was not what she meant at all.  
From the lovestruck look in her eye I can only assume these fantasies involved flowing white shirts, rapiers, a misty morning and two blonde women duelling over a demure Victorian lady._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

A small but obviously very necessary detour to Ireland and then L-Corp had meant Kara was seven whole minutes late for lunch with James. Okay, so maybe that wasn’t exactly why she was late. The staring at Lena had somewhat affected Kara’s punctuality.

But James understood the busy life of a Superhero, he did like to consider himself one after all. He smiled wide at her when she sat down at the table with him in Noonan’s.

‘Hey, sorry I’m late. It’s been a busy morning.’

‘No problem,’ James waved away her concern and scanned the menu knowing Kara would want food as soon as it could come. ‘I’m guessing the uh,’ he motioned a flying gesture, ‘kind rather than CatCo, I feel like I haven’t seen you around the office this morning.’

‘Oh yeah,’ she grinned. A waiter appeared and took their order, Kara of course ordering three separate meals and asking for them to be supersized. _Supersized for a Supergirl_. ‘Cat actually gave me an out of office assignment this morning. I’m pretty excited.’

‘That’s great, I’m glad you’re finally getting the chance to show off your talents as a journalist outside of L-Corp drama.’ Kara nodded tightly, letting it roll off.

‘It’s funny actually, Cat wants me to work on the thieves using alien weaponry. I feel like all my jobs are lining up really neatly right now.’ Her foot bounced, almost anticipating James’ reaction. Their drinks arrived, and James took a large gulp of his iced water before swallowing down whatever it was he desperately wanted to say.

‘What about you? What’s Cat got you working on in photography?’ It was very weird for Kara to feel as though she was having a clunky first meeting conversation with someone she had known for so long, someone she had been millimetres from dating. But that was certainly how the conversation felt. _Clunky, disjointed, discombobulated._

‘Just the usual, heading out to take photos of the news as it happens. I think she’s going to want to do another National City powerful people edition soon, so there’ll be a lot of rich people to photograph.’

‘And uh,’ Kara glanced around for prying ears, ‘your other “job”?’ James laughed softly.

‘It feels so good to be out there really helping, Kara. I’m really making a difference. That feeling after you’ve saved someone… it’s kind of addictive isn’t it?’ Kara’s face twisted thoughtfully before she shrugged.

‘I guess, I don’t know. I just can’t imagine sitting by and not helping anymore.’ Their food arrived and the table was quickly crowded with plates, Kara eagerly digging in. ‘Besides,’ she said around a mouthful and with thoughts distracted by food, ‘if I stopped saving people it’d be like four seconds before Lena ended up getting shot at or blown up or something. Can’t have that,’ she smiled joyously.

‘Yeah,’ James muttered, ‘world can’t stand to lose a Luthor.’ Kara kind of knew it was coming. Not James’ distaste for Lena, she definitely knew that was coming. But the music, she had a strong inkling the music was about to reflect her very valid feelings. Lily Allen was a little bit of a surprise, but then ‘Fuck You’ certainly made sense. However, this was _Kara_ , so it was the radio edit. She wasn’t about to let her mind swear at will just because James was apparently crossing his fingers for Lena’s demise.

She gave him a withering glare before shaking her head and turning her attention back to her food.

‘Don’t forget she’s a Luthor Kara.’

‘How could I when you are constantly banging that drum…’ she mumbled.

‘Lex was Clark’s friend too you know?’

‘Well you seem to be missing that she’s not Lex, she’s Lena. And I’m not Clark, I’m Kara! Clark and I are really different.’

‘Look I get that you feel like you’re in Clark’s shadow a lot of the time,’ he had the nerve to slide his hand along the table to grasp Kara’s, ‘and you have different lives. But you both have your DNA in common. You both have the same weaknesses Kara.’ He searched her eyes to gauge her reception, finding only barely controlled anger he sighed. ‘You might be different from Clark, but Lena grew up in the same house as Lex. If Lex knew how to hurt Clark, you have to know Lena knows how to hurt you.’

Kara snatched her hand away from him, feeling as though his touch ripped through her skin like kryptonite. She suddenly felt sick, he’d always seemed like one of the good guys. But here he was spewing the kind of hateful, prejudiced, ugly thoughts that made him more suited to the Luthor name than Lena.

She had hoped that James would take the time to get to know Lena, to pay attention to what really drove her. And Kara had seen Lena trying to ignore James’ insinuations at every game night, had seen the crack of hurt that ran through her eyes every time. Lena had never risen to it though, she had always accepted the cuts.

What was Kara supposed to say to that?

She stood up abruptly, chair legs screeching across the floor, napkin fluttering to the floor. Kara hadn’t finished even half her food but suddenly she had lost her appetite. Kara had lost her appetite… **Kara** didn’t want to finish her food. That alone should have let James know he was heading on a path to friendship destruction. And not just a simple matter of gently packing away the bridges they’d built while knowing each other. No, no. He was one sentence from being a minecart stuffed with propane tanks, dynamite and c4 barrelling into their friendship.

The angry flare in Kara’s eyes intensified as she stomped out, before James could detonate.

James ran his hand over his scalp and shook his head.

Kara could at least take satisfaction knowing she’d ditched him with the bill for her three meals. Obviously though, that was not going to be enough to settle her. She spent much of her afternoon up above the usual flight plans of the busy skies. The last thing she needed was to get her cape caught in a passing plane turbine.

She reclined in the chilly atmosphere, the perfect curve of the world, where pale blue meets midnight, stretching before her. There was one thing that she had wanted to do ever since she’d met Lena. Now seemed like as good a time as any. She rolled gently until she was staring down at the world through the soft clouds.

‘LENA LUTHOR IS A GOOD PERSON!’ There, she’d told the damn world.

She sighed, leaning her face on her hand and relaxing as though she were lying on something up there. Eighty thousand meters above National City put her a little too far out of viewing distance, but she imagined Lena, still working her lab. Her purely platonic feelings had her daydreaming about dopily smiling as she watched Lena work. There was even one brief moment of her slipping her arms around Lena’s waist as she worked, resting her chin on her shoulder. But that was a fluke… didn’t mean anything.

Up there, where the blues of the atmosphere blurred she daydreamed of Lena Luthor. She was not surprised to hear ‘Daydream In Blue’ by I Monster as she drifted in the cold. This was in large part because Kara had never actually learnt the lyrics to the half of the song… 

* * *

While Kara chilled in several ways, Lena had enthusiastically continued on her work. She even created a prototype. Unfortunately, the gift left on her desk had set off a domino effect of feelings that could not be wrangled.

Where Lena would normally have the utmost confidence in her work and the devil may care attitude to use untested equipment, she now worried her lip. All through university she had regularly risked her own life in the name of science, hell, on a number of occasions she’d even put Jack’s future on shaky ground. But to risk Kara or Supergirl… that was cause for pause.

There had been one occasion where she had truly worried about the safety of Kara before. Corben clamped in cuffs and arm broken had done little to quell her fears when she realised Kara was nowhere to be seen. That day might have gone very differently if Alex Danvers, the groups very own Wonder Woman, had not been there. She imagined it was entirely possible she would have lost her own life, but more concerning was that she could have lost Kara.

The solution then, seemed clear. 

* * *

She had only been to Alex’s apartment three times before, and each of those visits had been for game nights. Her nerves gripped around her insides and tugged firmly before twisting uncontrollably as she trudged up the stairs.

She took a long steadying breath as she vacantly stared at the apartment number, hoping she wasn’t about to disturb one of the few nights Alex got to spend with Maggie. Bottle of Glenmorangie Pride 1974 in hand she wrapped a knuckle against the door. She swallowed loudly, instantly regretting her decision.

The door opened slowly, and Alex’s head cocked to one side.

‘Lena,’ her eyes alighted on the scotch, ‘with gifts?’ she asked hopefully.

‘Yes, with gifts,’ she pushed the bottle into Alex’s hands. ‘Any chance we could talk?’

‘Hmmm… well I had a pretty solid plan to vegetate on the sofa tonight but you _did_ bring,’ Alex’s eyes widened as she realised just how expensive a bottle of scotch she was holding, ‘a seven and half thousand dollar bottle of Glenmorangie,’ the words slowly filtered out.

Lena pulled her other hand from behind her back.

‘Actually, I brought two.’ She waved another bottle gently with an awkward smile.

‘You must really think I can hold my drink,’ Alex said as she moved aside to invite Lena in. Lena laughed anxiously.

‘Well, I wanted to give you a gift but I also thought we’d want to drink for this conversation. It’s hardly a gift if I come with intention of drinking it.’ Alex nodded, ditching her bottle in the kitchen, grabbing a couple of lowball glasses and flopping onto the sofa.

‘So this is going to be an awkward conversation then? Is this about Kara?’ Alex was hoping that maybe, finally, one of them was planning to make a move.

‘No, well, yes. Sort of?’

‘You wanna add a maybe to that pile of answers too?’ She poured out a couple of glasses and passed one to Lena. Her first sip of the amber liquid had her ready to accept Lena into the family immediately. Alex melted into the sofa enjoying the warm burn. Lena was proud of her decision that some might have considered impulsive and extra. _I’m getting good at this gift giving thing._

‘Well, I take it you’ve sufficiently reprimanded Kara for our new investigation?’ Lena was not quite ready to look Alex dead in the eye.

‘You would be right,’ Alex said around the rim of her glass.

‘And you’re okay with her working with me?’ Alex rolled her eyes fondly and reached out to touch Lena’s shoulder comfortingly.

‘It wasn’t about her working with _you_. It’s about her throwing herself into danger. And you, for that matter.’

Woah. A big statement in such a small moment. Alex ‘cautious with her heart’ Danvers was worried about the safety of Lena ‘drags Kara into trouble’ Luthor. Lena gulped her drink. Did she just keep going while she still had some kind of momentum or take a detour and double check she was hearing things right?

‘You uh… you think I throw myself into danger?’

Alex snorted and refilled their glasses.

‘I _know_ you throw yourself into danger.’

‘And,’ Lena at last made eye contact with Alex, desperately trying to read her, ‘you think I’m going to get Kara hurt?’ Alex’s eyes were warm, tinted with a little humour as her response came quickly.

‘Not in the least,’ she smirked, there was something in her voice that poked Lena’s subconscious. ‘I’m worried you’re going to get yourself hurt,’ she paused to drink and thoughtfully glanced away, ‘although I suppose that would hurt Kara.’

‘You’re worried about me?’

‘Of course,’ Alex smiled, ‘how many friends do you think I have that are likely to bring me extortionately priced alcohol?’ Maybe Kara and Alex were more alike than previously thought. _Alex just proclaimed herself my friend!_ Lena downed her drink and moved to refill them both again.

‘So you won’t hate me if I ask you to temporarily join the team?’ Lena looked up hopefully.

Alex froze. She had a sudden feeling of dread. Life and death situations, she could handle. Keeping civilians alive in the middle of chaos, she could handle. Protecting her sister’s secret identity while taking down criminals, she could handle.

What she did not want to deal with was the possibility of being stuck **anywhere** with Lena and Kara while they continued to ignore their very painfully obvious feelings for each other. And running through her mind was the idea of her miserably folded into the back seat of a car, on a stake-out, while Kara and Lena were overly affectionate “platonic” friends right in front of her.

‘I’m going to want more details before I agree to anything,’ she tentatively muttered, raising her glass to her lips.

‘Right,’ Lena nervously smiled, a slight gasp of a laugh escaping, ‘I’ve been working all day on something to knock the alien weapons out of action.’

Alex raised a brow and nodded for Lena to continue.

‘And I’ve got a list of three places I think they are most likely to strike next. I was thinking maybe we could catch them in the act and you know… arrest them.’ Lena sipped slowly, waiting for Alex’s response.

Alex’s eyes closed, her lips pursed tightly. She deeply inhaled and let out a small sigh.

‘That’s your whole plan?’

‘Yes?’

‘Then I must graciously decline. And I’d advise you to work on a new plan.’

‘What? Why? I can neutralise the weapons, and three buildings in an entire city is pretty well narrowed down.’

Alex shrugged.

‘If you want to trap someone it’s much easier to wait until they step onto your carefully laid net than to try tossing a net over their heads when you find them.’

‘So we should lay a trap for them?’

‘I didn’t say that,’ Alex waved a finger, glass in hand, slightly sloshing the liquid.

‘Yes you did… sort of,’ Lena grumbled over the rim of her glass, ‘you as good as said Kara and I should lay a trap for him.’

‘I did not. And if you tell Kara I did… I’ll…’ _shit, what do I have on Lena?_ ‘I’ll tell Kara it was _you_ who ate that last potsticker!’ Lena’s face rippled with shock.

‘You wouldn’t!’

‘I would,’ Alex taunted.

‘But it wasn’t even me!’ Alex shrugged.

‘Who’s she gonna believe? Her big sister, or her friend?’

‘Best friend,’ Lena corrected.

‘Still not quite sister level though is it?’ she waggled her eyebrows smugly.

‘Fine. You’re a cruel, cruel woman Alex Danvers.’ Alright they might both seem like lightweights at this point. But you don’t pay that kind of money for weak alcohol, and that might have had some bearing on Alex’s next sentence.

‘It’s not like I was going to tell her you’re in love with her.’

Lena’s eyes bulged, her mouth dropped open, her throat clenched up. And though she never heard music like Kara, that was definitely a moment of panic worthy of the intro to the Ironside theme tune.

Alex clamped a hand over her mouth. _Oops… that slipped out I guess._

‘Wuh-w-what?’

‘Uh…’ Alex took a long swig from her glass, ‘would you believe I didn’t say anything?’ she squeaked.

Lena sunk back into the sofa, slowly studying Alex through a haze of panic and alcohol. Her glass the only comfort in the storm of emotions raging through her. There didn’t seem to be any anger or disgust in Alex’s eyes, not even any pity, just guilt by the barrowful.

‘How long?’ Lena finally whispered.

‘Huh?’

‘How long have you known?’

‘How long since we caught Corben?’

‘Oh,’ Lena sighed. ‘You won’t tell her, will you?’

‘Since this isn’t elementary school, no, I will not be telling her or passing any notes to her on your behalf.’ Lena almost laughed at that.

‘I promise I’ll get a handle on it soon. She’s just very easy to love.’ Alex wasn’t sure what surprised her more, the honesty or that Lena believed she could control her feelings. Her brows raised as she unpacked those two simple sentences. It took her a little longer than normal.

‘I’m not mad at you for loving her.’

‘You’re not?’

‘No,’ Alex scooted across the sofa, legs still crossed, ‘come here.’ She held out her arms and waited patiently for Lena to accept the hug.

They drunkenly hugged, still sipping from their glasses, until Alex thought of a new way to ease Lena’s worries. She pulled away and refilled their glasses.

‘I think…’ she hesitated, ‘it makes you a better person than me.’

‘What? Don’t be ridiculous.’

‘I hated Kara when she first came to live with us,’ Alex’s throat bobbed as she swallowed nervously and Lena stared at her in disbelief. ‘She was this intruder on my life. She burst in and slowly took over everything. Suddenly I had this sister that I had to protect and help, I had to fight for my parent’s attention for the first time. But you…’ she took another lazy swig, ‘she just crashed into your life, she’s taken up half your time with these investigations, you protect her and help her, and you support everything she does at CatCo. You never hated her.’

Lena laid her arm across the back of the sofa and propped her head up, examining Alex’s guilty features.

‘She’s the person she is because of you. She’s this unhateable… is unhateable a word? It is now.. she’s an unhateable being because of you. She’s this unstoppable ball of sunshine and I just know, from everything she’s said about you, you’re who she does it for. She idolises you.’ Alex scoffed and ended up with scotch burning her nostrils.

You know what happens when a mirror sits in front of a mirror? They just keep reflecting each other. That was Alex and Lena, constantly trying to deflect the heartfelt compliments by shining them back at each other. They continued on for quite some time until it was easier just to talk about Kara.

‘I can’t believe she can write such beautiful articles and be so unaware of the words tumbling out of her mouth sometimes,’ Lena huffed exasperatedly.

‘Oh, I know. She once asked a sales assistant in Toys R Us where the adult toys were!’ Alex’s laughter peeled out of her immediately and Lena’s cackle wasn’t far behind.

‘I wasn’t totally paying attention to what she was talking about, but I looked up once and she just said “oh, two fingers works better than one”’ By this point Alex and Lena were a giggling mess on the floor. An unwise amount of the bottle had been consumed and more embarrassing stories than Kara would ever be comfortable with had been shared.

They were sadly interrupted by Alex’s phone letting out a the default ring tone. She shuffled around, rooting through her pocket for her phone.

‘Hello,’ she sputtered.

‘ _Alex?’_

‘Speak of the devil,’ Alex said to Lena without moving the phone from her face. ‘Hi Kara.’

‘Hi Kara!’ Lena bellowed.

‘ _Is that Lena?_ ’

‘Yup! We’re talking about you… oh, no wait. I said that wrong. We’re not talking about you!’

‘ _Very believable…’_ Kara sighed down the phoneline, ‘ _I guess I can’t ask you to give me a lift.’_

‘Why would you need a lift?’ Alex came as close to sobering up as she was going to get, sliding away from Lena slightly.

‘ _I blew out my powers.’_

‘How? Where? When? Why?’ Alex sputtered and Kara sighed again.

‘ _I got sort of angry, maybe over used my powers in the training room…’_

‘You’re going to tell me all about this when I’m not drunk. You got that?’

‘ _Yeah. Make sure Lena gets home safe for me.’_

‘Yes boss,’ and Alex forgot herself again, ‘your home or hers?’ she giggled.

‘ _Alex!’_

* * *

Lena had some regrets.

Not many, because Alex had truly been excellent company. But some.

Her head was absolutely pounding the following morning, her tongue felt like sandpaper and she was pretty sure at some point she must have thrown up because there was a distinctly acidic taste.

This was not however, the first time she had found herself so unreasonably hungover on a work morning. She groaned loudly, slowly hauling herself from beneath the covers. She paced to the kitchen, quietly assembling a bloody Mary and knocked it back before slinking toward the delights of her shower.

A small patch of blue sky appeared in her clouded mind as she gently massaged the shampoo into her hair. Her evening had certainly gotten off track. She had not in any way achieved what she set out to do. On the upside, she was now certain of her friendship with Alex Danvers. Lena ‘no friends’ Luthor was very definitely no more.

She lolled her head and whined to herself when she remembered that perhaps she had not been as good at concealing her feelings as she had thought. She would have to get a handle on that and fast. The last thing she wanted was Kara finding out and feeling uncomfortable around her.

While she was rinsing out the conditioner inspiration struck. Remember the thing about tiles and bathrooms helping inspiration along? Well, Alex had definitely suggested that she lay a trap for these criminals. And she already knew how they picked their targets. This should be easy peasy… well, once she’d gotten to grips with the hangover it would be.

* * *

Kara was feeling a pretty mixed bag of emotions. She had burned through her anger but was still staying well clear of James while she went about her minor clerical tasks at CatCo. She was both relieved and grumpy about the current lack of super powers. She was maybe, just maybe, the tiniest smidge jealous that Alex had gotten to spend a drunken evening with Lena.

And then there Lena was, strutting into the offices with dark shades hiding her focus. So Kara was also feeling confused.

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_And I think we both know she was feeling confused in more than one respect._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

Lena swanned in, perched herself on the edge of Kara’s desk and treated her to a signature Lena Luthor mischievous smirk. Whatever it was Lena was going to ask, Kara was absolutely going to say yes.

‘Ow!’ Kara yelped as her clenching fingers caught on a piece of paper. A tiny cut began to bleed and Lena was grateful for the sunglasses that had blocked the light from her strained eyes. There is no way she would have been able to hide her surprise otherwise. _Not Supergirl then…_

Kara sucked at the cut and Lena’s brain almost frazzled.

‘To what do I owe the pleasure of your company this morning,’ Kara said brightly around her fingertip.

‘I wanted to invite you to my gala, officially.’

‘Your gala?’

‘Yes, big party at L-Corp, food, music, fancy guests, everyone in their glad rags.’ Lena really didn’t need to say any more, Kara was already envisioning waltzing across the floor with Lena firmly but totally platonically held in her arms. Shostakovich’s ‘Waltz 2’ was already looping through her mind.

‘I’d love to go,’ she proudly exclaimed with a wide grin.

‘Excellent, because I have a plan to catch those thieves and I think the gala is the perfect place to do it.’ _Oh… right. Maybe that’s a no to the waltzing then._

‘Do I still get to eat the food?’ Lena let out a chuckle and nodded carefully so as not to irritate her head further.

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_You may be beginning to understand Aunt Alex’s use of the word “suffered” with regard to these two._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_  


	8. Grand Plans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was supposed to be longer, but I've had to split it into two because I've kind of sucked creatively this week :/ Sorry.  
> Hopefully my brain will be up and running again soon but in the mean time here's 6k words of what I hope will suffice.
> 
> Thanks for the comments and kudos guys.

It bears repeating, when it came to Lena, Kara was an idiot. Somehow, during the course of her regularly scheduled brunch with her “best friend”, Kara had agreed to contact Supergirl and make sure she would also be in attendance at the gala in just two days’ time. Somewhere between being plied with food, staring at Lena’s oh so red lips and worrying over Lena’s hungover eyes Kara had agreed – not for the first time – to turn up as both Kara and Supergirl just because Lena Luthor had asked.

Her instinct reaction had been to simply repeat the Mrs Doubtfire process she had implemented before… _oh crud! I blew out my powers, what if they aren’t back by then?! AAAHHHH! What have I done!?’_ Kara’s internal panic must have shown on her face because suddenly Lena’s hand was smoothly darting across the table to reassuringly caress Kara’s.

‘Is everything okay, Kara?’

‘Hmm?’ Kara blinked back to the present and swallowed nervously at the concern in Lena’s eyes, ‘oh, yeah, I’m fine.’ She laughed with little conviction.

‘Is it the gala? You don’t have to be my plus one you know, you could bring someone else if you wanted,’ Lena paused to gauge Kara’s reaction, ‘I just thought as we’d be working on our case it was easier if we didn’t have other people to worry about.’ Lena was rambling. An unusual occurrence to be sure. However, it had suddenly hit her that she had all but asked Kara on a date. Something that, despite her feelings, she had planned never to do for fear of certain rejection.

‘What!? Me? Go with someone else? Who would I even bring? And no way am I letting my best friend host a fancy party solo. You’re stuck with me for good.’

Lena bit her lip to hold back her immediate reaction. _I sure hope so._ A slight hopeful twinkle in her eye that drew Kara in and made her smile without restraint. Neither of them paid any attention to the fact that their hands were still linked, thumbs absently running over knuckles.

‘Do you think we should get some private investigation training?’ Lena asked after a stretching silence.

‘I don’t know, we seem to be doing okay so far. Do you think we should?’

‘Well I think if we’re going to continue this outside of L-Corp we won’t have all the advantages we had before. Maybe a little training wouldn’t be the worst plan.’

‘No, you’re right it’s not the worst plan. The worst was when you said I should, and I quote, “use my feminine wiles” to distract Frank Deans so you could check his personal laptop.’ Kara said with a fond wink. Lena couldn’t help laughing when she remembered Kara’s stumbling attempts at flirting. 

* * *

 

Early afternoon saw Supergirl gently landing at the DEO, fingers twisting nervously and lips muttering a variety of phrases, testing them out before committing to them. She looked up to see Alex staring at her with confusion and mild discomfort.

‘Why do you look like you’re in pain?’ Kara mumbled.

‘Why do you look like you’re about to be in pain?’ Alex retorted.

‘I asked first.’ Alex rolled her eyes but bowed to the rule of sibling rivalry.

‘I drank waaay too much scotch with Lena last night and unfortunately I don’t have a Kryptonian metabolism.’

That was another thing that had been bothering Kara. She wasn’t quite ready to openly admit her jealousy over Alex and Lena getting drunk together. It wasn’t that she thought Alex was going to steal her best friend away, Alex had Maggie. But Kara had realised there were things she’d never get to do with Lena because she was an alien. And letting loose, forgetting the world and getting absolutely wrecked was one of them. She desperately wanted to see Lena completely relaxed and unguarded but if they started drinking she was certain her genius best friend would notice she wasn’t even a little bit tipsy after three bottles of wine. Sometimes, being an alien sucked.

Alex snapped her fingers in front of Kara’s glazed vision.

‘Earth to Kara, do you read me?’ She echoed her voice through a coiled hand and laughed as Kara finally returned to their conversation.

‘Huh?’ Alex shook her head with a smile, having a pretty good idea of where Kara just went.

‘I said, it’s your turn.’

‘Oh, right.’ Kara traced the conversation back and sighed before she continued. ‘I… umm, have to ask J’onn to be me, Supergirl me, for Lena’s gala.’

Alex couldn’t help the full bellied laugh that ripped from her. She managed to wrangle the laugh into a smirk and looked up at Kara’s pouting frown.

‘I don’t even care why,’ she sputtered as she burst into laughter again. Tears began to well in her eyes as she patted Kara on the shoulder and wandered off to tell Winn.

‘Gee thanks,’ Kara grumbled.

She slowly trudged towards J’onn’s office, dreading the conversation no matter the outcome. She would like to have paused and steadied her nerves before knocking but glass walls made that an impossibility without significant awkwardness.

She knocked gently as she opened the door with a guilty smile on her face.

‘Hey…’

J’onn looked up from his paperwork with a frown.

‘Ah, Supergirl. I need to speak to you,’ he paused as he rifled through the papers and Kara gulped as she stepped into the room and let the door swing closed. ‘This report you filed is not adequate Supergirl. “A fight. I ended up in bakery. Bad guys got away.” This is incredibly unprofessional.’ _Oh poop, he’s already in a bad mood._ Kara rubbed the back of her neck and avoided eye contact.

‘I was in a hurry…’ she whispered, too afraid to speak any louder.

‘Well you aren’t now,’ he slid the form across the desk towards her, ‘do it again.’ Kara took the piece of paper with a defeated sigh and slumped into a chair facing J’onn.

‘I’ll definitely do this, but I actually need a really big favour.’ J’onn focused his intimidating gaze on her and leant back in his chair, waiting.

‘I err…’ she laughed nervously. _Just rush it out and he might be rushed into agreeing._ ‘IneedyoutobeSupergirlatLena’sgala.’

J’onn’s face remained expressionless. He folded his arms across his chest and waited some more. It was driving Kara insane.

‘Please, we just want people to feel safe and not panic when the thieves show up, so we can stop them.’

He calmly breathed and did little else as his eyes studied her intensely.

‘And…. Besides it’ll help protect my identity. Kara Danvers can’t possibly be Supergirl if they are stood right next to each other at one of the biggest business functions of the year.’

He titled his head.

‘Did I mention I blew out my powers?’ she anxiously wrung her hands and puffed out a laugh. ‘So really I can’t do it.’

‘No.’ He said firmly and returned to his paperwork.

‘Oh, right. Well, yeah I blew out my powers yesterday,’ Kara smiled pleadingly.

‘I meant, no I will not impersonate Supergirl at the party.’

‘Please J’onn?’ He was purposefully avoiding looking at her, she had no choice but to duck her face down and subject him to the full power of the Kara Danvers pout. Imploring blue eyes, adorable crinkle, slightly trembling lower lip. It could not be denied.

‘No.’ Unless you were a Martian by the name of J’onn J’onnz apparently.

‘Please, I’ll do extra duties, I’ll always fill out my paperwork properly without grumbling. Please.’ She clasped her hands together and was fully prepared to beg on her knees because she’d already promised Lena. She didn’t want to have to go back to Lena and tell her she’d failed.

‘You’re already supposed to fill out your paperwork properly,’ J’onn huffed. He made a mistake, he looked up, he saw how much this meant to Kara. ‘Fine, I’ll do it.’ He raised a finger, ‘but only an appearance, I hate having conversations while I’m being you. Last time… let’s not even think about last time,’ he shuddered.

‘Thank you!’ Kara squealed as she leapt to her feet, rounded the desk and wrapped J’onn in an awkward and uncomfortable hug. ‘Thank you.’

J’onn shrugged her off and muttered about her needing to get back to work, prompting Kara to leave before she destroyed her good will with her boss.

Alex and Winn were waiting for Kara when she skipped through the corridors to the main room. Both with curious eyes, excited anticipation evident from their smirks.

Kara eyed them suspiciously as she stopped in her tracks.

'What?' she asked.

'What did he say?' Alex almost shouted in suspense as Winn began to snigger again.

'Oh, I see, you just want to laugh at me some more. You think he crushed me under foot.'

'Didn't he?' Winn queried with surprise.

'No, he didn't,' Kara replied triumphantly, 'so you can stop laughing at my misfortune.'

Alex turned to Winn with a knowing glint in her eye.

'Oh, misfortune she calls it,' smile stretching wide across her face.

'Whipped, I call it,' Winn laughed. Kara's eyes narrowed on them, not understanding their meaning but knowing she was missing something big. She grumbled incoherently to herself and deciding she didn't want them to turn this back to another round of "loving banter" about Lena she scrambled for another topic.

'Any new updates on that Daxamite?'

Alex raised a brow at Kara but allowed the direction change, for now. She straightened up and Winn excitedly answered.

'Yep, got my language programme running. He's picking up English really fast... well, sort of.'

'What does sort of mean?' Alex cautiously asked.

'He's learning the basics, but he'll struggle with colloquialisms and idioms.'

Alex mouthed a few words as she considered the next step.

'Right, so he's ready for his conversation with Kara then?'

'What? Me? Why? He spat at me last time.'

'Two words Kara. Vegan. Icecream,' she said holding up two fingers. Winn reached out and pushed another of Alex's fingers up before muttering quietly with a cough.

'Ice cream is two words...'

'I can't believe you're punishing me for your loss,' Kara huffed.

'I didn't make the bet and I got punished. And anyway, he's practically Kryptonian, this is your stuff.'

'No way is he Kryptonian.' Kara stamped her foot, accidentally cracking the concrete floor. 'Daxamites and Kryptonians are totally different.'

Alex shrugged.

'I'm a biologist Kara... you seem pretty similar to me.'

'Please,' Kara said with affront, 'they are like really, really distant cousins.'

'Well, as your superior officer, I'm assigning you this task,' Alex had an incredibly smug smile as she patted Kara's shoulder.

'This is abuse of power!'

'This is a secret government organisation, who are you going to complain to?' Winn interjected. 'Besides, he's not so bad. I've been talking to him while I've been configuring the programme. He seems nice.'

Kara folded her arms with a scowl. She exhaled irritably and inadvertently caused a chilly draught before stomping down to the holding cells sullenly.

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_I'm honestly still in a state of shock that J'onn agreed. He **hates** being Supergirl._

_Remember the time when The National City Times reporter tried to prove Supergirl's identity and J’onn had to be her? I feel like I can still hear him grumbling about the skirt and how he didn't know how to talk like Supergirl._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

Lena stretched across her office couch, face in the cushions, heels fallen to the floor. She was largely over her hangover by now but that didn't mean she was free and clear of pain.

'It made so much sense this morning,' she muttered to herself, voice muffled by the cushions. And it had. She needed somewhere sufficiently abundant with wealthy people and she just happened to be hosting a gala in two days. It was perfect. Alex told her to lay a trap, well as good as told her. And she had the perfect opportunity to lay one. Kara was her partner on the case so of course she invited Kara to be her plus one at the gala.

It made sense.

But now she was realising what a mistake it was.

Wrangling her unfortunate romantic feelings for her best friend was difficult enough at the most mundane of times. And she’d just invited the object of her desire to stand by her side at a glamourous event. Just invited her to put on a dress that she had no doubt would make Kara look absolutely jaw dropping and spend the entire evening with her. _What the actual fuck is wrong with me?_

How was Lena going to look at Kara without utter adoration reflecting in her eyes? How was she going to concentrate on their very serious and dangerous plan when Kara would be there looking the way Kara does?

She had tried to distract herself with the details of the event. She had summoned Jess into her office and asked for a run down of everything still left to organise, hoping she’d have plenty of work to distract herself. But Jess was too damn efficient. There was nothing for Lena to do, unless she felt like heading to CatCo to make sure their best photographer would be attending. And actually, right at that very moment, she really **didn’t** feel like talking to James Olsen. And there was always the chance she’d run into Kara which wouldn’t help her current predicament.

She sighed miserably.

There was a soft knocking on the door and Lena turned her head, thinking it would just be Jess, who had seen her in far worse states.

‘Hey,’ Sam whispered.

_Oh, fucking marvellous. Because just what I needed was another person to see me in this sorry state._

She sat upright and straightened out her clothes with an embarrassed blush.

‘Hi.’

‘Not feeling too good today?’

Lena briefly considered just telling Sam about the whole ridiculously clichéd situation she’d gotten herself into. She was friends with Sam, right? But that would involve putting words to her continually growing feelings for Kara. Easier to blame Glenmorangie.

‘Drank a little too much with a friend last night,’ she smiled tightly. Sam smiled mischievously and plopped down onto the couch next to Lena.

‘You mean the great Lena Luthor can’t handle her drink?’ Lena laughed in slight disbelief.

‘The great Lena Luthor can handle her drink just fine. Let’s see what you look like after half a bottle of 52% alcohol,’ she nudged Sam’s shoulder with her own. Sam smiled and caught Lena’s eye.

‘So, are you going to tell me what’s got you screaming into the cushions or should I pretend I didn’t hear that?’ Shit. Lena had also been muffling her resigned screams of misery, apparently without even realising it. She twisted her fingers nervously.

‘The uh gala, I guess.’

Sam reflected on her answer briefly. She knew it was all organised and ready to go off without a hitch. Certainly not worthy of ignoring the world behind a cushion. But she also knew Lena was a very private person. There was a distinct possibility she was going to be overstepping her bounds in her new-found friendship.

‘The gala? The gala that I signed off on all the expenditures for this morning, so I know is sorted?’

Lena looked away and gazed out the window, lips twisting in thought. It had been a relief to talk to Alex about Kara. She was close to spilling all her secrets. Sam had a comforting aura about her.

‘I accidentally invited someone, and it would really have been far better for my sanity and heart if I hadn’t,’ she stated with as much vagueness as she could while still being honest.

‘Ah,’ Sam softly gasped. ‘Someone who doesn’t share your feelings I take it?’

Lena sighed.

‘Of course. I’m a Luthor, there’s no way someone like her could return my feelings.’ _Oh fuck, that’s already more detail than I was intending to reveal._ Sam placed a comforting palm on Lena’s shoulder.

‘I’m pretty sure she sees past the name,’ Sam had the distinct impression that they were talking about a certain blonde reporter, who she knew for a fact looked at Lena like she’d invented pizza. Something inside Lena’s confusing mess of a mind, broken down by her stepmother, refused to be so easily seen through. She refused to let Sam believe she’d fallen for her best friend. She couldn’t accept pity for that because she couldn’t understand how anyone could not fall in love with Kara.

‘Well I don’t think Supergirl has much choice,’ she huffed. And immediately regretted it. _What the fuck!? Why? Why? What is **wrong** with me? _

Sam was briefly taken aback. She kind of knew Lena had an almost friendship with Supergirl. But damn. This was a mess of Shakespearian proportions. Seemed like the only way that romance would end would be fairly close to Romeo & Juliet… not well.

‘Your heart certainly aims high,’ she said eventually.

‘Yep,’ Lena lolled her head back and softly cursed to any god cruel enough to have subjected her to this.

‘And you invited Supergirl to the gala?’ Lena was dragged back to Earth and realised she hadn’t mentioned her plans to Sam.

‘Oh, I completely forgot to tell you. Kara and I are planning on catching some criminals… I’m honestly very glad you couldn’t find a baby sitter.’

‘You two are really taking this crime fighting thing seriously.’ Lena nodded tightly, not wanting to give anymore away inadvertently.

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_And so, her tangled web of half truths began.  
Remember this dumbass move when we get to the confusion in the fourth act of their romance._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

Kara took a confidence boosting breath and straightened her back before entering the room. He wasn’t looking angry this time, he looked distraught. She slowly approached his cell, tapping lightly on the glass to get his attention.

He looked up at her, traces of tears running down his cheeks still evident though they had long since dried.

‘Hello,’ she tried. He nodded in acknowledgement and looked away again. ‘I’m Kara Zor-El.’ She swung her fists together and rocked on the balls of her feet, unsure of what to say. ‘I almost never get to tell people that, my real name. And when I do, nobody really knows what it means to me.’ She spoke softly and put her dislike of him to one side. Winn had said he might not be the worst, so she was giving him the opportunity to prove it. He stared pensively at the wall, lips twisting mindlessly. He turned to face her again and swallowed.

‘Lar Gand,’ he whimpered.

Kara tried her most comforting smile as she leant one shoulder against the glass separating them.

‘How did you end up in a Kryptonian pod?’ she attempted to keep any accusation out of her voice, but he could hear it faintly undercutting her words.

‘I don’t know why the pod was there. I just knew I had to escape, so I used it. You Kryptonians don’t even think to put locks on those things, it was easy.’

‘Escape? From where?’

‘Daxam.’

‘Why would you need to escape Daxam? Oh Rao, are you a criminal?’ He leapt to his feet, anger flaring in his eyes.

‘Oh, you think just because I’m a Daxamite I must be a bad guy? Lar Gand must be a big criminal on the run from his planet?’

‘Well, what else am I supposed to think when you say you’re an escapee?’ Kara’s nostrils flared. She should have known she couldn’t have a civil conversation with a Daxamite.

‘Oh, I don’t know. How about he was probably fleeing from his planet as it got destroyed because that’s how I ended up on this planet!?’

That shut Kara right up. And honestly, the guy had a point. She worked her jaw as she tried to work out what she was supposed to say. She pushed away from the glass and paced the room.

‘Daxam is destroyed too?’

‘Well, it certainly didn’t look good last time I saw it,’ he said miserably. He sunk back onto the slab that the DEO called a bed and thumped his head against the wall, denting it slightly. Kara’s pacing increased.

‘So, you’re a refugee like me?’

He shrugged and bowed his head.

‘I guess so.’

‘How long after Kry- … how long after did Daxam fall?’

He sighed and shook his head.

‘It all happened about the same time, chunks of Krypton rained down on Daxam. The skies were burning Kara Zor-El, I didn’t stop to check my calendar.’ He ground out her name with clear disdain.

Kara felt a stab of guilt surge through her. It was her parents who had allowed these events to unfold. If they had just done something maybe she would never have had to leave Krypton, maybe Daxam would never have suffered, maybe Kal wouldn’t have grown up without Kryptonian parents.

But would Kal choose that? Would he want to never meet the Kents… or Lois? _Oh Rao, I don’t know if I want that. I want Krypton so much. But Eliza and Alex are my family now. And… Lena. I don’t think I could trade any of them for Krypton, never mind all of them._

It was emotional torture. To realise she hated her parents’ inaction and yet everyday found herself thankful for the people she loved on Earth. She only enjoyed sister nights with Alex because Krypton and Daxam had been destroyed. She only burst with excitement on game nights because of what she had lost. She only knew Lena because she would never know her parents any better.

She had been sent to Earth to protect Kal and guide him. She realised she had promised to do the same for this Daxamite. And, yeah, he had been unconscious, so she could probably worm her way out of that promise pretty easily. But she’d already failed to help Kal. Could Lar be her second chance?

She looked at him intensely.

He was a grown man, not exactly the baby Kal had been. But he was still a refugee from a lost planet. He still had no idea how things worked on Earth. He still needed to learn to control his powers.

‘Do you want to stay on Earth?’ she asked abruptly. His head jerked up, eyes searching her. Silence sat between them, weighty and almost suffocating.

‘I don’t know that I have much choice,’ he stated in monotone.

Kara hummed, her pacing had stopped, and her face contorted deep in thought. There were a lot of things to consider. A man can’t just appear from nowhere. He’d need an identity that didn’t scream alien, and Lar Gand kind of screamed alien. He’d need a lot of training. But also there were so many exciting things Kara would get to show him, _as long as he doesn’t act like a total d-… Daxamite!_

She nodded to herself confidently. She was going to finally do what she was sent to Earth to do. Hopefully.

She turned to stroll out the room.

‘I guess I’ll just wait here some more then,’ Lar groaned. Kara swivelled back to face him with a smile.

‘I’m not allowed to let prisoners out since a small, very tiny, miniscule incident with a shapeshifter. It totally wasn’t my fault but they’re all holding it against me,’ she huffed.

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_It was not a tiny incident._

_She let out a Durlan and he rampaged through National City for a full three hours before they could recapture him. It resulted in a total of 23 broken bones, $368,937 worth of property damage and four agents being on sick leave for injuries sustained in the line of duty._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

As she marched back to the command room, a very clever plan was formulating. At least, she thought it was pretty darn clever.

‘Can we give him a human identity?’ Kara loudly asked over the din of the room to Alex who stared at her in disbelief.

‘Can we what?’

‘I’m going to show him how to human,’ she stated proudly.

‘How to human?’ Winn asked.

‘Yeah, you know how to pretend to be dumber and weaker… and clumsier than we are,’ she said with a smile.

‘Is that how you see us?’ Winn put on an expression of complete offence.

‘It’s what I do to convince people I’m Kara Danvers.’

‘I want to be offended… but she’s not wrong, she does do that,’ Alex said as she shrugged at Winn.

‘I guess…’ he muttered.

‘So what kind of identity were you thinking? If he’s going to be learning from you, he’s going to need to be able to blend in.’

Kara bounced on her toes excitedly with a grin.

‘Oh, no,’ Alex groaned. ‘Last time she looked like that she had her dumb plan to impersonate Lois Lane.’

Winn added his grimacing groan to the mix and waited apprehensively for Kara’s latest genius plan.

‘It’s really rude how you talk like I’m not here, and how you assume all my plans are going to be terrible.’

‘I reserve my right to do so until you give me a good plan,’ Alex smirked, ‘come on, hit us with your amazing plan.’

‘I will.’ She straightened herself and chose her words carefully, not needing there to be any misunderstanding. ‘I’ve got the perfect identity in mind. Jonathan Kent, my other cousin. Just moved to National City, in need of a job.’ Kara waved her splayed hands in a tada motion and waited for applause or at least some kind of recognition of her ingenious idea.

‘You want him to be your cousin?’ Alex asked, dumfounded.

‘What the hell happened down there?’ Winn quietly questioned, equally dumbfounded. ‘Didn’t you hate him like fifteen minutes ago?’

‘I also said he was like a really distant cousin fifteen minutes ago… so really have I changed my mind at all?’

‘Your cousin?’ Alex repeated. ‘What’s Clark going to say about this?’

‘Thanks for thinking of me?’ Shaky hope laced Kara’s words. ‘It makes more sense if he’s my cousin anyway. Otherwise people will want to know why I’m helping this random guy I’ve never mentioned before. Right?’

‘I can’t believe I’m going to say this… but she actually does have a point there,’ Winn almost gasped in shocked.

‘Where’s he going to live?’ Alex kept things focused.

‘Err…’ Kara had to quickly add to the plan on the fly, ‘here, until he gets his first pay check. Then he can find his own place.’

‘Wouldn’t a good cousin let him crash on her couch?’ Winn saw his chance to annoy Kara, and he took it with glee. She sputtered, desperately searching for a reason why she shouldn’t have to share her apartment with him.

‘He’d get in the way of my movie nights with Lena,’ was all she could come up with. Both Winn and Alex snorted with laughter before composing themselves quickly. Alex shook her head and concentrated on the big points.

‘And you’re going to find time to teach him in between reporting for CatCo, Supergirl duties **and** your little crime fighting side job with Lena?’

‘Yes?’ Kara’s confidence was waning.

Alex sighed, rubbed her temples softly and muttered about nightmare logistics.

‘I guess, if you really want to do this I won’t stop you. But are you sure he wants to?’

Kara’s momentum came to screeching halt.

‘Err…’ she hadn’t exactly asked him, but he did say he didn’t have much choice, right? ‘I didn’t explain **all** the details. But I’m sure he will take this seriously.’

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_It was almost like she completely forgot the bit about Daxam being party central of the universe. Why would she think he’d take it seriously?_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

‘Right…’ Alex said dubiously. She clearly hadn’t forgotten Kara’s earlier statements about Daxam. ‘If you want to do this, he’ll be your responsibility. You understand?’

‘Yep,’ she grinned. Her purpose on Earth was finally going to be fulfilled. _Yes!_  

* * *

 

 The next morning Alex let herself into Kara’s apartment, bagels in one hand, coffees in the other. She dumped the goodies on the counter and struggled to wake Kara up after a long night of firefighting in the state park.

‘You stink of smoke, you really need a shower.’ She licked her thumb and rubbed a dark smear of ash from Kara’s brow.

‘After breakfast,’ Kara mumbled around her food.

Just as Alex was about to give Kara a run down of the procedure for releasing Lar Gand into her custody they were disturbed by the sound of a key turning in the door. They both turned to see Lena opening the door with a beaming smile on her face and a bag full of pastries. Instantly Dean Martin and Helen O’Connell were warbling in Kara’s head, asking her ‘How Do You Like Your Eggs In The Morning?’

Kara was so busy imagining cooking breakfast with Lena that she missed the look of infuriated shock on Alex’s face. Alex wasn’t angry at Lena exactly, but she couldn’t look at her right now. Supergirl’s cape was draped over the sofa, Kara still had soot smears all over her and she smelled like a bonfire. What on Earth was Kara thinking when she gave Lena a key to her apartment? _She probably wasn’t thinking…_ Alex grumbled over her coffee as she quickly tapped out a message into her phone.

‘Hi,’ Lena said pleasantly, ‘should be enough for you too Alex as long as you can beat Kara to them.’ She chuckled softly and sauntered over to the counter.

‘Hi,’ Kara said with a dreamy grin. _God! They aren’t even fucking dating. This is going to be so much worse when they are!_

Kara’s phone dinged with a message.

**[Alex: 07:49]** Your cape! You still need a shower! And why the fuck does she have a key to your apartment!?

Kara’s eyes flickered down to read it, then flashed with a look of horror as they flitted from Alex to her cape and then to the nearest reflective surface.

‘Uh,’ Kara nervously rubbed the back of her neck and smiled awkwardly, ‘I was just going to jump in the shower… and take that nice big red towel over there.’ She disappeared almost inhumanly fast, and Lena simply smiled at Alex as though she knew exactly what was going on. Alex was beginning to understand what Kara meant about Lena maybe knowing.

**[Kara : 07:51]** Because she’s my best friend!

Alex gritted her teeth as she glanced at her phone, tapping out her response while making idle conversation with Lena.

**[Alex: 07:51]** How many people have a key to your place?

**[Kara: 07:52]** Just you, Eliza, Lena, maybe Clark I can’t remember and Winn.

**[Alex: 07:52]** What if you had been in your Supergirl suit?

**[Kara: 07:53]** I hear her coming Alex, she won’t catch me by surprise.

Alex had to take a calming breath before responding. She joked with Lena about Kara being no use in the morning until she’s had a shower and a coffee.

**[Alex: 07:56]** Except she did catch you by surprise. Your fucking cape was on the couch!

Kara didn’t want to respond to that. It was easy to forget she’d blown out her powers if she didn’t need to use them. And she still wasn’t totally sold on the idea of Lena not knowing, and anyway she had covered up the slip up perfectly, so it wasn’t a big deal.

Kara returned to the kitchen in soft clothes and with damp hair. Lena may have briefly short circuited. There is a distinct possibility that Lena had recently reread Pride and Prejudice and bizarrely had imagined Kara as Mr Darcy. Now a number her thoughts considered Kara emerging from a certain lake.

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_I’ll never understand that. I really don’t see the similarity with Mr Darcy myself._

_Pretty sure it was all just dumb fantasy._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

‘Sorry about that,’ Kara smiled, absently towelling her hair dry. ‘Thanks for the food,’ she grinned with a croissant hanging between her teeth.

‘Oh, no problem,’ Lena waved off the concerns. She turned to Alex, if only just to try and calm her rising blush. ‘So are you going to join us for my brilliant trap?’

‘Absolutely not,’ Alex scoffed. ‘Both of you two are awful at this whole thing, I’m not putting my name to it.’

Lena shrugged, unphased by Alex’s words. She might have been internally panicking about how to act around Kara the following evening, but she was still glad she got to call the best Danvers sister her investigative partner.

‘Well, you’re welcome to come as a completely unaware guest if you like, you could always bring Maggie… the perfect excuse to get all dressed up for her,’ Lena said with a waggle of her eyebrows.

Alex looked thoroughly unimpressed.

‘You want me to ask my girlfriend out on a date that I know will end in alien chaos?’

Lena hummed in understanding and smiled shyly.

‘Good point,’ she conceded.

‘You see, this is why I’m an agent and you two are civilians,’ she said smugly.

‘Woah, such arrogance,’ Kara chimed in, ‘if you think about it, **we** ,’ she gestured between herself and Lena, ‘are doing your job for you. Protecting members of the public and solving crimes.’

Lena gasped.

‘You’re so right! We should start calling ourselves agents.’ She waggled her eyebrows at Kara, making sure Alex couldn’t see.

‘What? No. You can’t just call yourselves agents.’

‘Why not? Maybe we are. Maybe we are so deep undercover there’s no paper trail to prove we are agents.’ Lena’s smirk was spreading.

‘No Lena, she’s right. We aren’t agents.’ Kara left a dramatic pause. ‘We’re secret agents!’ Kara slotted her hands together to mock a gun shape and pointed at Alex.

‘The level of unprofessionalism,’ Alex muttered. ‘I’m leaving. I’ll talk to you later… about your cousin.’ She was going to enjoy winding Kara up about Lar Gand, Kara just didn’t know it yet.

Alex gathered up a bear claw and a bagel before heading out the apartment and leaving those two chuckleheads behind.

Lena swivelled smoothly in her chair to face Kara with a grin.

‘She really likes being an agent, huh?’

‘Mmhmm,’ Kara nodded enthusiastically. ‘it’s the guns and the fighting, plus she gets to wear black all the time. She loves being the biggest badass in the room,’ Kara chuckled.

Lena caught herself staring at Kara’s lips and shook her head to break her gaze.

‘Anyway, I thought I better show you the basics of the EMP device I’ve created. It’ll probably knock out all the tech in the vicinity but that shouldn’t be a massive problem, I hope.’

‘It’s okay I trust you, I’m sure it works.’

‘Well, yeah. But if I can’t get to it for whatever reason, you need to know how to set it off.’

Kara’s gaze whipped from her food to Lena’s face so fast it blurred briefly.

‘Wh-why would you not be able to get to it?’

‘They’re criminals with guns Kara. They could block me, hold me at gunpoint, shoot at me if they so desired.’ Lena spoke with little regard for her own safety, it hurt Kara to hear. And Kara’s stomach tumbled at the thought of Lena being in such danger again. She really hated this. She was just going to have to be the best partner Lena had ever had… well she hadn’t really had any before so, they best partner Lena would ever **have.** Kara’s mind was pumping her up with music, preparing her to be the action hero Lena needed. But Kara’s brain also knew it’s audience. So, it was playing the Charlie’s Angels theme tune.

Kara listened with absolute focus as Lena explained the ins and outs of the device. Unfortunately, that focus was mostly on the song as she studied Lena’s every facial expression.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know if that sucked and I'll see what I can do about a rework for it.   
> I just haven't got it in me right now :/


	9. The Gala

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Playlist has been updated.  
> https://open.spotify.com/user/cxuz0ateeovucrjmr034gf6pa/playlist/1Rl3fv4cyF5nj3CScQHjOf

Kara was still exhausted from firefighting all night and it showed in her tired eyes. So when she stretched her arms in the air and yawned uncontrollably, Lena was certain nothing was more important than Kara getting some rest.

Kara had tried to reassure her and tell her she was more than welcome to stay, perhaps because she was not looking forward to being told off by Alex, but more likely because it was Lena.

‘I promised ice cream to a certain Ruby Arias anyway. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from our friendship, it’s that one should never break and ice cream promise,’ Lena gazed adoringly at Kara’s sleepy expression before she packed up her things, hugged Kara just a little too long and bid her goodbyes.

Unfortunately for Kara, Lena did not get the deciding vote on whether Kara got to take a nap or not. She still had to go and see Alex. Which she knew was going to involve a stern reprimanding because Lena had nearly seen _a very ambiguous piece of red cloth_ laying across Kara’s couch.

On the upside, it would also progress her plans to take her new protégée under her wing. It wasn’t long after Lena had left that Kara was knocking on Alex’s door.

Alex checked through the peephole, set her jaw tight and pulled open the door before thumping Kara in the arm.

‘Ow!’ Kara frowned and rubbed at her sore arm. It was a hard hit and this time Kara’s arm might actually bruise.

‘I knew it!’ Alex pointed an accusatory finger at Kara as she trudged in. Once the door was closed Alex was quick to continue. ‘You aren’t back to full power yet. You didn’t hear Lena coming because you don’t have super hearing!’

Kara sunk into the cushions of the sofa, hoping they’d soften the blow of Alex’s impending fury.

‘Why didn’t you tell me you weren’t at full power before I sent you off to fight fires?!’

‘Because you wouldn’t have let me go if you knew all I have is flying and ice breath…’ Kara mumbled and winced, ready for the lecture.

‘You’re damn right I wouldn’t Kara!’ Alex paced in irritation as Kara’s words truly sunk in. ‘Only flying and ice breath? Kara! Fires are fucking dangerous!’

Kara kept her head bowed, knowing Alex was far from finished.

‘And don’t even get me started on Lena having a key to your apartment!’ Kara really wasn’t going to, but she had a suspicion that Alex was going to get started all by herself. ‘She could just let herself into your place and see your supersuits… or **you** in your supersuit. Don’t you think that would raise questions? And why does she even need a key in the first place? Won’t you always be there when she is?’

Kara raised her gaze to meet Alex’s, she at last had caught onto a question she could answer. Though perhaps it would have been better for Alex’s sanity if Kara had chosen not to answer.

‘Sometimes we work late on our cases, so she stays over occasionally.’ Alex’s face contorted into a strange amalgamation of complete disbelief and a resigned lack of surprise. Although Kara, even now, claims she does not understand why, she was hearing a Swing Republic cover of ‘Crazy In Love’. ‘And on some cases my place just sort of became our base of operations. Lena said she liked it better than her place. Sometimes she’d be working on the case when I was busy Supergirling so I gave her a key.’

‘Stayed over? Like slept on your couch?’

Kara snorted at the very idea.

‘No way would I make my best friend sleep on my crappy couch. We just shared my bed. It’s big enough.’ Alex studied Kara’s face, searching for a crack of humour but finding only complete sincerity. Her lips pursed as she looked to the ceiling for help, inhaling deeply and faintly shaking her head.

She shrugged and shook out her tense muscles before fixing Kara with a focused expression.

‘I’m not even going to touch that… Let’s just sort out this stuff with Lar Gand,’ she sighed.

‘Okay,’ Kara said with a cheerful and oblivious smile. ‘How is this “in the custody of Supergirl” thing going to work?’

‘Basically, he’s your responsibility. He does something bad, it’s your fault.’

‘How’s that fair?’

‘Don’t look at me, I don’t make the rules,’ Alex raised her hands in surrender, ‘Are you sure you want that kind of responsibility on top of everything else?’

Alex was pleased to see Kara actually take the time to think about her answer. She adjusted her glasses and toyed with the hem of her sun dress.

‘What’ll happen to him otherwise?’

‘I don’t know Kar, he attacked DEO agents… but he’s been pretty peaceful since we’ve started talking to him. He might get a chance to live a normal life here.’

‘No training to control his powers?’

‘That’s not really what the DEO is for,’ Alex shrugged.

‘What happens when he accidentally breaks something… or someone, because he can’t control his powers?’

Alex didn’t really want to answer the question and she knew Kara could already guess the answer. Straight to jail, do not pass go, do not collect $200. Silent communication passed between them.

‘Then I’m going to do this. I’m going to teach him how to blend in at least.’

‘Okay,’ Alex said without resistance, she had already known her self-sacrificing sister would take on the extra responsibility. ‘There’ll be some paper work to sign, he’s going to need a job asap because the DEO won’t keep him long. I can help you figure out the extent of his powers today if you want, Maggie’s got a double shift.’ She quirked a half smile.

‘Oh I see, I’m only a distraction for you when you can’t spend time with _Maggie_ ,’ Kara teased.

‘Yep,’ Alex said with a pop, ‘I don’t even really like you, I just keep you around for entertainment value.’ She hooked an arm around Kara’s neck and pulled her head in to grind her knuckles into Kara’s scalp. If there’s one thing Alex enjoys about Kara blowing out her powers, it’s that she gets to do all the annoying big sister things she usually misses out on.

‘I still have some powers you know,’ Kara muttered through a scrunched face.

‘You can’t freeze breath me from that angle…’ Alex waggled her eyebrows even though Kara couldn’t see it.

‘You’re right,’ Kara said matter of factly as she squirmed in Alex’s grasp. She started to float towards the ceiling and before long Alex was hanging around Kara’s neck by one arm.

‘Hey! That’s not fair,’ Alex whined. 

* * *

 

Lena had gotten the distinct impression that Alex had not been happy to see her that morning. Which definitely hurt. She wasn’t sure what she had done to annoy her new friend, but she had her suspicions the searing anger in Alex’s eyes has been directed at the shiny brass key in her hand.

She determined it was obviously one thing for Alex to understand Lena being in love with Kara, but another thing entirely for her to accept that Lena had unfettered access to Kara’s life. Well, Lena could understand that. Even she wasn’t sure that she was deserving of that proximity to Kara Danvers. She ran her fingers over the key in her pocket as she strode along the streets. It was a good key, the kind of key that someone might frame and still have on the wall of their living room forty-five years later…

Her mother’s voice, deep in the back of her mind, whispered that Alex would never truly accept her. Muttered that Kara would soon realise just what it means to be so close to the darkness that surrounds Lena. Her own internal voice told her she would never be good enough for Kara, better to cut her losses and run before she was utterly crushed under the weight of her feelings for the almost mythical woman.

Fortunately, Lena had recently discovered how to clear her mind of all the twisting tendrils of darkness. She gripped the key tighter, smiled at the lock screen on her phone and felt a singular thought crash through her mind, bursting with light and safety. _Kara._

‘Lena!’ She was dragged from her daze, a state that some might be bold enough to call a love daze. Sam waved at her with a huge grin and her other hand resting on Ruby’s shoulder.

‘Hi.’ She fixed a smile on her face. This was it. Her first non-Kara friend outing. And could Kara really count as just a friend when Lena fell in love with her a little bit more every time they saw each other? What if she was no good at this? Sure, she’d made friends with Winn and Alex… she hoped she was still Alex’s friend. But Kara had basically told them to like her _and who could ignore anything Kara said, right?_

And then there was the matter of Ruby. What does a twenty-four-year-old business woman have to talk to a pre-teen about? She’d met Ruby in passing a few times, they’d never needed to really talk. Suddenly Lena remembered something Kara had said in the park one day. “I like kids, they’re honest and easy to get along with. I’ve had some of the deepest conversations about pancakes in my life with kids. And one time I spent half an hour debating the merits of different ice cream flavours with this one kid. The easiest conversation I ever had.” At the time Lena had thought to laugh but Kara’s expression had been one of complete sincerity. _If Kara gets along with all kids, then I just have to treat conversation with Ruby like conversation with Kara._

‘I heard this place does something called the ice cream mountain, you think you’re up for the challenge?’ Ruby’s eyes lit up and her face whipped to plead with Sam.

‘Can I mom?’

Lena laughed and gave Sam and wink. _Success! Just like Kara. Easy._

‘I tell you what, I’ll cut a deal with you,’ Sam paused to tease Ruby as they walked into the shop, ‘you can have whatever you wish. But!’ she pointed a stern finger at Ruby. ‘If you eat so much you puke later, you’re cleaning it up.’ Ruby grabbed Lena’s hand and pulled her towards the counter with an excited bounce in her step.

‘Deal,’ she called over her shoulder.

Forget the ice cream, Lena’s **mind** was melting. She just grabbed Lena Luthor’s hand like it was nothing. As though Lena didn’t carry the mantle of the most reviled family in the country. As though Lena was someone she trusted and was excited to spend time with. It took her a few breaths to get her head straightened out and reformed into some semblance of her usual elegance. In that time Ruby had ordered two ice cream mountain challenges, leaving Lena with a horrified expression when she heard the cashier repeat the order back.

Apparently, Lena was going to try and eat more ice cream in one sitting than she had in her entire adult life.

They found a red and white candy-striped booth to sit in and Lena struggled for conversation once more. It would have been easier if it were just her and Sam. She could start with business and Sam would usually skilfully lead the conversation into more friendly territory. But even Lena knew you couldn’t talk business with kids. Lena thought about Kara’s words again. Kids are honest.

‘So Ruby, am I forgiven?’ Lena started with a coy smile.

‘What for? Ruby fiddled with the sprinkles shaker on the table and fixed Lena with an inquisitive gaze.

‘For stealing or your mom’s time with boring business?’

‘Hmm,’ she raised a finger to her chin, twisting her lips with joy in her eyes, ‘I’ll have to get back to you on that,’ she said with a grin.

Sam balled up a napkin and tossed it at Ruby’s head.

‘What happened to playing nice so you could charm her into being your first investor?’ Sam queried with a quirked eyebrow. Lena leant back in her seat, folding her arms across her chest and staring pointedly at Ruby.

‘Should my feelings be hurt by subterfuge?’ Ruby met Lena’s gaze with confidence but swung her leg out to knock at Sam’s shin.

‘No, you should be impressed by my skill in the art of the deal. That’s what investors look for right?’

‘It’s one of the things,’ Lena paused as their mind bogglingly large bowls of ice cream were slid onto the table, ‘but I’d also want a detailed business plan.’

Ruby was distracted from talk of business.

‘Woah!’ Her eyes widened and sparkled with excitement. Sam blew out her cheeks, thanking her lucky stars that she hadn’t found herself in Lena’s position. ‘They weren’t kidding about the mountain.’

‘No, they were not,’ Lena slowly muttered, defeat already beginning to lace her words. Ruby dug in with the kind of delight she’d expect to see from Kara. _I really need to stop thinking about Kara… not everything can remind me of Kara._ Lena tentatively picked up her spoon scraped away a small scoop, preparing herself for the worst. This was going to be sweet torture, just like being friends with Kara. _Dammit!_

Sam watched Lena carefully, with amusement clear in her expression. It was not often she would see her genius boss backed into a corner and defenceless, but here she was having circles run around her. Better still it was her Ruby, her smart little girl, that was doing the running.

‘So tell me more about this investment you want me to make,’ Lena said as she slowly chipped away at the dessert in front of her.

‘Oh, well-‘

‘Ruby, empty your mouth first,’ Sam cut in. Ruby swallowed quickly and continued.

‘Sorry. Are you familiar with tuck shops?’

Lena’s head quirked to the side, appraising the young girl beside her.

‘I am,’ she slowly stated, ‘my boarding school days would explain how I know about them. How do you know about them?’

Ruby grinned mischievously.

‘I do my research Miss Luthor.’ Ruby scooped another monstrous spoonful of ice cream into her mouth and hummed with pleasure. ‘I’ve looked up standard business models and I think there’s a profit to be made on this side of the Atlantic.’

‘Oh really?’ Lena couldn’t help the surprised amusement slipping into her voice.

‘Yep,’ Ruby dug out a chunk of cookie dough as she talked, ‘I’m confident that it’d be successful enough that I’d only need one small investment for set up and then I could run it freely.’

Lena tilted to look at Sam who in turn was proudly watching her daughter’s confident business acumen.

‘Hmm,’ Lena reached for the cherry and slowly twisted the stalk from it as she considered, ‘so you’re aware that there have already been such shops in America? And that both here and in England they are becoming less welcomed by schools?’

Ruby paused with the spoon half way to her mouth. Her mind quickly ran through her options, she chanced a glance at Sam and hoped to find inspiration. Sam gave her one of those warm reassuring smiles that always filled the people near her with confidence and comfort. It was just what Ruby needed to wing it.

‘Of course, which is why I want to start a new kind of tuck shop. Healthy snacks and drinks.’

Lena’s brows raised, not wanting to disguise how impressed she was by Ruby’s quick thinking. She had almost scuppered all of Ruby’s business plans in one sentence and unlike some of the grown adults she worked with Ruby had bounced right back with a new plan as though it had been the goal the whole time. She looked at Sam with a devious grin.

‘I didn’t realise I’d hired the less capable business woman in the Arias family.’ Sam squinted hard at Lena as she let out a mock gasp.

‘Excuse you,’ she took a spoonful from her small bowl of praline ice cream, letting Lena guess at what she might be about to say, ‘but you should have been fully prepared for my daughter to be amazing.’ She winked at Ruby and they both giggled when Lena rolled her eyes.

‘It’ll be A-Corp before you know what’s happened,’ Ruby said with a delighted laugh.

‘Somehow, I completely believe that,’ Lena replied, shaking her head. 

* * *

 

‘Kara, do you have to just drop me every time?’ Alex complained after Kara had given her a lift to the DEO.

‘No,’ she stated while her lips curled into a smile, ‘it’s just more fun when I do. Plus… you know, no super strength right now. You’re _really_ heavy _._ ’ Alex swung out her hand to lightly swat at Kara’s arm.

‘I’ll start setting up some tests while you go and tell Lar the good news.’

‘Okay,’ Kara bounced off towards the cells, leaving a muttering Alex skulking towards her lab.

Just as Kara rounded the corner to the right hallway, it finally occurred to her. Lar might not actually want to be trained, especially by a Kryptonian. He might reject her offer and go it alone. Everything Kara was prepared to offer him, safety, stability, chance at a normal life on Earth after losing his planet, maybe people he could call family. All the things Kara might have refused herself when she first landed. He might need time.

Well, that was a bit of a downer. And Kara was in too good a mood to let it spoil. She’d had pastries _and_ bagels for breakfast, she’d seen Lena, she was finally getting a chance to fulfil her destiny. She was just going to have to keep steaming rolling on. Because that’s what Kara had always done in the face of adversity. She’d always gotten her head down, shoulder knocked forward and charged for the tackle.

When she entered the room, Lar jumped to his feet and waved at Kara. _He’s in a good mood_.

‘Kara Zor-El, I’m glad you’re back,’ he cheerfully said.

‘You are?’

‘I’ve been thinking about what you said before.’

‘You have?’ Kara’s head tilted in curiosity, ‘which part?’

‘About whether I want to stay on Earth.’ He paced behind the glass of the cell, softly wringing his hands. ‘Winn has been telling me more about this planet. I think, maybe I could like it here. I want to stay on Earth,’ he finished with a confident nod and a faintly wavering smile.

‘You do?’ Kara was beginning to feel a little silly with the way she kept asking two-word questions of disbelief, but it was all that would work its way out. This was far more level headed and reasonable than she had been expecting from him. This was calmer there her own response had been to the loss of her home.

‘Yes, I mean I’m practically a god here. Who wouldn’t want that?’

_Oh. There’s the Daxamite in him._

‘You can’t just abuse your powers here Lar.’

‘Why not? If I have powers why wouldn’t I use them to give myself an edge.’

‘Because it’s not fair. I use my powers to protect people.’

Lar stared at her, deep in thought. Kara’s fists found their place on her hips as she met his gaze with heroic confidence.

‘Do I have to be like you and your cousin if I stay here?’ Kara’s mouth dropped open slightly. _How much has Winn told him exactly?_ She shook off the thought and focused on Lar’s question. Becoming a hero was a big decision. It was a risk, a time commitment like no other, a heavy weight to bear and it was the best decision of Kara’s life. But she knew she couldn’t force Lar into being a hero. He would have to come to the decision himself.

‘No. You just need to learn to control your powers. You need to seem normal. Not everyone on Earth would be accepting of you.’ Lar sunk back into his cell, slouching on the bed. His shoulders hunched as he stared at the tops of his shoes.

‘So I just have to start a new normal life all over again?’

Oh. Maybe there was a beating heart and a brain capable of higher function in there after all. It wouldn’t have been easy to start a new life as a god like being on Earth. But it would have been easier than starting again as just an average guy. Because as just an average guy it would be easier to remember all the things he had lost. Kara stammered, her body weight shifted, and she had to take a step back to stabilise herself.

‘Not alone,’ she paced towards the cell and placed a hand on the glass, ‘I promise. You won’t be alone here.’

‘I’m all set up in the labs, you ready?’ Alex said as she walked into the room, head bowed while she swiped over her tablet. Kara pushed away from the glass and fixed an unconvincing smile on her face.

‘Yeah,’ she sighed.

‘Ready?’ Lar asked.

‘Yeah, we err, we need to test your powers to figure out what exactly we’re working with here,’ Kara muttered with uncertainty.

‘Oh, right.’ Lar swallowed and slowly rose to his feet. ‘What do I need to do?’

Alex strode forwards and unlocked his cell.

‘We’ll start with speed first, I’ve got a treadmill a friend of ours designed so we can test how fast you can run,’ she said as she gestured for him to follow.

‘Barry?’ Kara asked as she skipped after them.

‘Cisco… you know he’s the brains behind the tech,’ Alex said absentmindedly as she led the way.

‘Are these other alien friends of yours? I’d like to meet them.’

‘Uh, not exactly. It’s a long story with multiverses and superhumans,’ she rubbed at the back of her neck, ‘we never know when we’re gonna get a visit from Barry so maybe you’ll meet him,’ Kara shrugged.

When they walked into the lab Alex headed straight for a small pile of clothes on the side and tossed them towards Lar.

‘Put these on. I don’t need you wearing holes in your clothes if you’re fast enough.’

‘Okay,’ Lar smiled and started tugging off his trousers.

‘Woah!’ Kara’s hands darted to stop him, ‘woah, woah. We don’t need a strip tease. You can use that room through there,’ she pointed behind him.

He twisted his head to see and frowned.

‘Why?’

‘Uh common decency, dignity, propriety… take your pick,’ Alex grumbled while shaking her head.

‘Is this planet prudish?’

Kara shot him a challenging glare.

‘It’s certainly no Daxam.’

Lar sighed and briefly left the room before returning in his dark training clothes.

‘Alright, hop onto the treadmill and get ready to run,’ Alex patted the control panel as she spoke.

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Keep her reluctance to see Lar undressing in mind for later.  
There’s a certain self-righteous photographer that gets things all wrong later._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

Lar was really put through his paces. He’d fallen off the back of the treadmill when Kara had “accidentally” hit the top speed button at the same time as he’d suggested he could outrun her. He’d smashed his way through seven concrete blocks, bent three steel girders, hit the force reader hard enough to break it. He’d seen through three walls of varying thickness and then used his eyes to melt through a metal cage. Lar had also taken more blows to his face than a badly co-ordinated baseball backstop, but it wasn’t until he had smugly declared his invulnerability that Kara stepped up to the plate and proven him very wrong with no small amount of glee.

Throughout it all, despite his tendency toward arrogance, Lar had been an excitable and amiable sport. He hadn’t even made a big deal about it when Kara had stood three floors away holding a sign that said ‘Daxam sucks’ to see if he could read it. Kara was proud of him for proving her wrong. Maybe Daxams weren’t the worst after all.

‘So what’s all this testing for?’ He asked while soothing his jaw from Kara’s mean right hook.

‘Gotta figure out where to put you on our superhero leader board,’ Alex stated.

‘There’s a leader board?’ Kara whipped to Alex with a combination of surprise and excitement. ‘Where am I on it? Am I at the top?’ Alex snorted.

‘There’s not leader board Kar.’

‘Oh,’ she pouted.

‘There should be,’ Lar added.

‘Well, if there was… Kara would be winning,’ Alex stated smugly.

‘Yes!’ Kara jumped up and floated a victory lap around the room. ‘Give me a run down of Lar’s stats.’

Alex sighed as she watched Kara loop through the air with practised ease, Lar attempting to copy her but only managing to drift straight into a table and knock it screeching across the floor.

‘Oops, sorry,’ he nervously sputtered, trying to catch any toppling items. Alex’s intimidating stare could apparently subdue any alien.

‘He’s about as fast as Barry. He hits harder than my machines can measure, which could mean anything, you broke my machine when I tested you… if you recall you still owe me for covering that up. Seeing as you beat him in the arm wrestle all I can say for certain is you’re stronger. Everything else seems to be about the same… except well, he broke every needle I tried using to take blood samples.’

‘So I do that every time you forget to use the kryptonite tipped ones?’

‘Kar… I used the kryptonite needles.’

‘Oh,’ she mumbled before it really hit her, ‘Oh! He’s not affected by kryptonite?!’

‘I guess not,’ Alex shrugged.

‘What’s kryptonite? Should I be affected by it?’

‘Long story,’ Kara muttered distractedly. ‘So, he has no weaknesses?’

‘None that are obvious to me so far. I managed to take some samples under the red sun lamps, but it’ll be a little while before I’m finished running tests. So, you can start showing him the ropes of “how to human” while you wait if you like.’

‘Okay,’ Kara mumbled. She really wasn’t sure how to feel about this news. It seemed a little unfair. She’d gladly take a dip in her strength and speed if it meant not constantly worrying about the possibility of kryptonite burning through her.

Lar popped up in front of her, face eager and expectant.

‘What’s next?’

She shook off her despondence and smiled at him. He had been a very good alien today. And one thing Kara knew for sure was that good aliens deserved ice cream.

She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about ice cream since Lena had mentioned it in the morning and now she felt like Lar was ready for his first excursion. Which was a fairly strange and dumb decision considering she still hadn’t actually taught him much of anything.

‘Next I’m going to show you one of the best reasons to stay on Earth.’

‘Is it food? Because I am starving,’ Lar grumbled while rubbing his stomach.

‘Yes it is!’ Kara bounced towards her usual take off point before remembering Lar wasn’t ready for controlled flight yet. It would be far safer to show him how to get around National City like any ordinary human.

She pieced together an almost normal outfit from bits of DEO uniform, one of Winn’s discarded cardigans and a t-shirt she’d found in lost property.

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Yeah. The DEO has a lost and found.  
Who knew?_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

Before long Kara was excitedly leading Lar by the hand into one of her favourite places in the city, animatedly telling him about all the different flavours and suggesting he get a bottomless bowl.

‘But what’s the point of a bottomless bowl? That’d make a mess.’

‘No. It means you can keep refilling your bowl when it’s empty. That way you can try all the flavours.’ She waved her hands excitedly. Her voice was loud enough to travel over the low rumble of chatter in the parlour. And her sweet laugh was a painful stab in Lena’s heart after she had seen them walk in together.

‘Hey, isn’t that your friend?’ Ruby innocently asked Lena as she pointed towards the counter. Lena’s eyes were very firmly fixed on Kara’s radiant smile, her heart clenching with every fond glance she shared with her… her what? Friend? _Boyfriend?_

‘Yeah, Kara,’ she mumbled.

‘We should invite her to sit with us,’ Ruby decided as she jumped up to go over and greet Kara. She used her sleeve to wipe her mouth somewhat cleaner before hopping in front of Kara.

‘Kara,’ Ruby grinned.

‘Hey Ruby! I was just telling La-Johnathan how all the best people go here.’

‘No you wer-‘ Kara nudged Lar in the ribs with her elbow and gave Ruby a cheesy grin.

‘It makes sense that I’d find you here,’ she continued, ‘is your mom with you?’

‘Yeah and Lena.’

‘Lena? Really?’

‘Yeah! She’s been doing the ice cream mountain challenge with me.’

‘Lena? Really?’ She shook her head, feeling like a stuttering record. ‘She ordered the ice cream mountain?’

‘Yeah, look,’ Ruby pointed across the room to a guilty looking Lena with a barely started but very rapidly melting heap in front of her. Her music kicked in instantly, a French Kick in fact, playing So Far We Are.

Lena was backlit by the sunlight streaming in through the windows, she was positively glowing and the nervous smile touching her scarlet lips was doing all kinds of things to Kara’s stomach. A new customer opened the door and a draught caught her silken strands, fluttering her hair almost ethereally. Kara’s mouth dropped open in stunned silence. Lena as per usual was impossibly beautiful. Kara wondered if there would ever be a time when she didn’t stall at the sight of Lena Luthor.

‘What’s the challenge?’ Lar asked.

‘Oh, eat it all in thirty minutes and you don’t have to pay. Lena’s definitely going to fail, she only has six minutes left.’ Lar’s eyes lit up.

‘I’ll have that please Kara.’ She laughed and placed the order with the cashier before pulling him over to meet her best friend.

‘I’m so glad you get to meet Lena, she’s the absolute best.’

Lena was trying to talk herself down, convince herself that punching the window and leaping through it before running down the street screaming was not the appropriate response. She was trying to prepare herself for worst case scenario, fully expecting to have to sit, watching Kara be completely smitten with a new boyfriend she hadn’t even told her best friend about.

‘Lena!’ Kara’s smile seemed to be getting wider the closer she got to the table. She slid straight in next to Lena and slung her arm around her shoulders. _UHH! ALARM!_ Lena was frozen in place, eyes staring wide, directly in front of her. ‘How come you’ll order ice cream with Ruby but whenever I bring you here you just get a cup of tea? You traitor.’

‘Uhh,’ Lena stammered, gazing at Kara with lovestruck disbelief.

Sam squinted in confusion at Lena. _If she’s so into Supergirl… Why is she looking at Kara like **that?!**_ Still, she felt some pity for her boss slash new friend.

‘To be fair to Lena, I don’t think she had much choice. Ruby sort of ordered it for her while her head was in the clouds,’ Sam finished with a laugh and a wink at Ruby.

‘Hi Sam,’ Kara smiled. Sam gave her a nod as she appraised the arm curled around Lena.

‘Hi,’ Lar interrupted.

‘Oh,’ Kara face palmed, seeing Lar shuffle into the booth beside Sam ‘sorry everyone. This is my cousin Johnathan. He just moved to National City so I’m showing him around.’

_Cousin!? Oh, thank God!_ Lena visibly sagged as relief rushed through her.

‘Johnathan, this is Sam, Ruby and, no offense guys, the best friend in the whole world, Lena,’ Kara gestured around the table before squeezing her arm tighter around Lena and pulling her closer.

‘I’ve decided I’d like people to call me Johnny, Kara. Winn said it was a usual nickname for the name Johnathan.’ He was met with multiple suspicious expressions and one slightly exasperated one.

‘Okay,’ Kara said evenly as she grabbed Lena’s spoon and started to tuck in without asking. A fresh bowl was placed in front of Lar and he inspected it closely. He looked up at Kara for reassurance and watched her eating. He knew cutlery, but this was certainly a weird substance.

He grasped his spoon and felt it buckle in his hands.

‘Oops,’ he awkwardly muttered out the side of his mouth. Only Ruby saw however, he straightened out the handle and mischievously winked at Ruby before delving into his dessert.

‘Oh wow,’ he sputtered around a mouthful, ‘you were right, this is worth staying on Earth for.’

Kara nervously laughed, eyes darting around the table as their companions examined him suspiciously once again.

‘You haven’t even tried the best flavour yet,’ Ruby exclaimed, eyes dragging from the slightly crooked spoon.

‘Oh, which one’s the best?’ He scanned over his pile of flavours, spoon shifting around to point at the variety of colours, waiting for Ruby to confirm his guesses.

‘That one!’ She watched him eye it greedily, ‘you should probably start with that one soon, there’s no way you’ll eat all of that,’ she stated.

He looked up at her with a grin.

‘I will, watch,’ he started voraciously shovelling food into his mouth.

‘He’s worse than you Kara… is it a family trait or something?’ Lena queried with only a trace of disgust.

‘Something like that,’ she strategically dissected the melting heap to get a bite size piece of Lena’s favourite before offering it to her. Lena gladly accepted, eyes trained on Kara as she ate.

_I repeat… if she’s so into Supergirl, why is she looking at Kara like **that**?!_ A single brow quirked on Sam’s forehead.

‘So Lena, all set for the Gala tomorrow? Worked out the last of those problems?’ Sam looked at her meaningfully.

‘Yep,’ she replied quickly, dismissing any other avenues of conversation Sam might be referring to.

Lar’s head tilted to the side mid-way through an intense discussion with Ruby about the best desserts.

‘Gala is like a party, right?’

Lena laughed faintly.

‘Yes, I suppose. Although there will be considerably less fun and considerably more tedious conversation.’

‘Oh well, that’s fine. You can make any party fun if you know how,’ Lar said proudly.

‘And how would you liven up a stiff business function?’ Lena questioned.

‘Is there music? And a dancefloor?’

‘Yes…’

‘Dancing,’ he shot out of his seat and began to shimmy around the tables and chairs, ‘it makes everyone happier.’

They all laughed unconvinced by his moves. Ruby was suddenly being pulled from her seat and tugged around with him, giggling all the while.

‘Wait, wait!’ Ruby yelped. She bent over, resting one hand on her knee and the other shot into the air. ‘I’m gonna barf if I dance anymore.’

‘Gross,’ Lar said, slightly recoiling and making Ruby laugh again. They returned to the table and Lar keenly returned to eating, occasionally dowsing his dwindling mountain in more sprinkles or syrup.

‘You certainly have some interesting dance moves,’ Lena chuckled, ‘you’re welcome to come to the gala and show off some more.’

‘Oh, no,’ Kara waved away Lena’s invitation, ‘he’s not- he can’t- he’s busy. He’s supposed to be umm, meeting Winn tomorrow night.’

‘I am?’ Lar looked completely lost.

‘Winn should come too. I have another coding conundrum for him to crack.’

‘Excellent,’ Lar nodded with a smile, ‘my first party here.’ 

* * *

 

Kara spent the next day hopefully prepping Lar for a polite society Earth party. There were a lot of bad habits for her to correct, most importantly Lar’s misconception that any woman was fair game. With the help of Winn, she had even gotten him to look respectable.

Kara though, had decided that she would be too busy with Lena that evening… with work on the case, to babysit Lar. She had pleaded with Winn to take him off her hands, and surprisingly he had been entirely open to the idea. All Kara had to do was head home and get changed.

Amongst all the rush to prepare their plan of action, and dealing with Lar, Kara hadn’t even considered what she would wear to the gala. To say she was freaking out would have been an understatement. She wasn’t totally sure why, but she had a strong feeling she needed to wear something that would turn heads, something that would impress even Lena’s wardrobe.

There was only one thing to do. She dove into the section of her clothing rails she usually shied away from. The clothes she had bought under the influence of red kryptonite. Her most figure hugging dresses, the ones that she knew had turned heads, blown minds and generally stunned.

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Rule number one of infatuation with your best friend:  
If you’re determined to make their jaw hit the floor with what you’re wearing, you aren’t just best friends…_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

She slowly walked towards the L-Corp event, calming her breathing because for a completely unknown reason she was nervous. She looked up to see Lena looking at her with darker eyes than usual and wondered how Lena’s eyes were able to constantly change colour. Then her eyes raked over the rest of her best friend.

At this point Kara had given up trying to convince herself that someone else was playing the music. The track choices could never be considered a coincidence and she had always known deep down that they only ever played in her head. She had tried to pinpoint when the music had begun, it had been a painstaking process. Months had passed and the only other change in her life had been the appearance of one Lena Luthor in her life.

There was no other way of looking at it. Lena had brought music into her life. It was like hearing the world for the first time. It was a pulse throbbing, hair raising, spine tingling soundtrack to her life now. And it could not have been more exquisitely torturous. The music was the wooden spoon stirring up her emotions every time she saw Lena, who she knew relied on the steady assurance of her _best friend_. So that’s what she was. A best friend who heard a strange selection of music when she saw or sometimes even thought about Lena.

Sometimes the songs sprang from a part of her mind she had forgotten, sometimes they were songs she had memorised the lyrics to long ago. As Lena swayed toward her Kara’s mind ran back to a music shop she had browsed years ago. The song had been playing softly in the background as she flicked through old records. Kara had no idea what it was called, who had sung it, or if she had even liked it. But she was hearing it in perfect clarity as she took in Lena’s figure hugging, floor length scarlet dress.

The electronic beats, so reminiscent of nineties dance pop, in no way matched up to the vision sauntering towards her. But Kara knew why it was running through her mind. The repetitive three lines of lyrics might has well have been written about Lena.

Just like perfection  
Like no other, flawless  
Absolutely flawless.

Her mouth gaped open, eyes widened in disbelief, muscles frozen in shock. Lena was strawberries and cream. Milky white shoulders and inviting neck, desperately beckoning marks. The bright red of her lips and dress brought only one word to mind for Kara, _succulent_.

‘How do I look?’ Lena said with a wicked smirk, an eyebrow raise and a quick twirl. Kara managed to close her mouth only for it to fall open again. She knew she need to move her gaze. There was no way Lena wouldn’t notice her staring at her cleavage. But at that moment it felt like the hardest thing she’d done since crash landing on Earth. All totally platonic, of course.

‘Uh… Y-y-‘ Kara stumbled over the syllables and scrambled for adequate words, words that were not succulent, ‘y-you look… flawless,’ escaped her lips in a dreamy sigh.

Meanwhile, Lena was more than glad she had spotted Kara coming and had time to snap out of her lovestruck stupor. Because there was no way words would have formed in any coherent sense for a good three minutes after seeing her. _I’m going to die tonight, and it will have been worth it_. Kara’s royal blue dress left her arms completely bare, Lena was going to struggle to focus at all. Her beautiful golden locks were, unusually, flowing around her shoulders and Lena could not have hated it more. How dare Kara look so angelic? And, dare she say it, so much like Supergirl?

‘I could say the same of you,’ Lena smiled tightly, barely holding her awe in check. Kara shook herself into action and offered out her arm.

‘Shall we?’

They were both so intensely trained on looking unphased as they linked arms and strode towards the crowds that neither noticed the other audibly gulping.

Nameless faces began turning toward the sky in a way that could only signal one thing. A super was landing… slowly. And, oh, Lena really hadn’t thought this through. She knew she was going to die with Kara looking the way she did. But stood next to Supergirl? Lena was about to be brutally murdered, left in a puddle on the floor for all to see.

‘Supergirl,’ Kara said with a strangely unsure tone in her voice. J’onn was kicking himself for not asking before hand because now he wasn’t sure how to address Kara.

‘Miss Danvers,’ well, that felt clunky for someone who was supposedly Kara’s friend, ‘Miss Luthor.’ Supergirl nodded at Lena with a small smile, noticing her panicked eyes. Perhaps that wasn’t how Supergirl normally talked to Lena. J’onn tried again.

‘You look lovely this evening Lena.’ A strangled noise escaped Kara and Lena’s knees almost gave out.

‘Thank you. And you… you look-‘ Lena internally rolled her eyes for starting that sentence, ‘you look heroic as ever.’ Supergirl seemed to remember she was a superhero at that and straightened her back, placing her fists on her hips. ‘I’ve been meaning to thank you for the gift you left me by the way.’

‘Gift?’ Supergirl queried and another soft gasp left Kara’s lips. _Kara is being really weird around Supergirl… oh… she’s got a thing for her._ _That makes sense._

‘The cheesecake.’

‘Ah, right… the cheesecake,’ Supergirl looked at Kara for an explanation and she shrugged, ‘you’re welcome.’ Lena was getting very strange vibes from Kara and Supergirl. ‘Anyway, I’ll be up there,’ Supergirl pointed to the night sky, ‘keeping an eye out.’

Before Lena or Kara could respond Supergirl leapt into the air and left with a faint gust of wind.

‘Did Supergirl seem off to you?’ Lena asked as she turned to Kara.

‘What?! No. Definitely not. Just her normal self,’ Kara smiled awkwardly and her eyes darted around the room for a distraction. They sparkled when they found the food. ‘Are those potstickers?’

Lena beamed proudly as she nodded. Kara shot off joyously, leaving Lena smiling dreamily in her wake.

‘Pick your jaw up Luthor,’ Winn said with a chuckle as he was tugged past by an excitable Lar.

Lena cleared her throat and made her way to a group of business men, who would certainly help calm her down with dreary conversation.

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Rule number two of best friend infatuation:  
If words like succulent are springing to mind when describing them… you aren’t just best friends._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

Kara had entertained herself for half an hour, eating, trying to wrangle Lar into normal human behaviour and joking with Winn kept her busy enough. But when she saw the tell-tale signs of Lena zoning out as she stood in conversation and disinterestedly added the appropriate comments, well, Kara had to rescue her best friend.

She strolled through the mingling people with confidence enough to part them like Moses in the Red Sea. She held out a soft palm and filled her voice with all the enchanting invitation she could. _Invitation not allure, definitely not allure. Allure would be weird._

‘Would you care to dance Miss Luthor?’

Lena turned to face her head on, her lips stretching wide across her face. She delicately placed her hand in Kara’s and stepped forward.

‘I would be delighted Miss Danvers.’

Kara led Lena to an open space on the dancefloor and seemed to naturally fall into leading the dance. Kara had no idea what song the band was actually playing because all she could hear was Etta James crooning soulfully to ‘At Last’.

As they gently whirled around they somehow found themselves drifting closer together. The hand Kara had placed on Lena’s side had slid around to her lower back. Lena’s hand had snuck its way from Kara’s shoulder to the nape of her neck. Their breaths were ghosting across each other’s skin. They had never studied anybody’s eye colour quite so intensely before. The red of Lena’s lower lip had almost completely disappeared between her pearly white teeth.

Kara’s eyes darted down to Lena’s lips, it was a brief flicker, but it happened and all she could think about was finding out if they were as soft as they looked. _Nope! Kissing is definitely **not** best friend behaviour_.

Lena’s heart was thrashing violently in her chest, demanding an expression of her love.

Kara nervously smiled. Lena was on the verge of throwing all caution to the wind and kissing Kara right then.

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Best friend infatuation rule number 3:  
If you’re brain is stuck on investigating the softness of their lips… you aren’t just best friends._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

‘Alright everybody, gives us your pretty gemstones and nobody gets hurt!’ Kara and Lena jerked apart, desperately trying to focus on the whole reason they were attending a gala together. Lena confidently stepped forward, head held high.

‘Did you think I wouldn’t have protection ready?’

‘Darlin’ whatever protection you think you’ve got it ain’t enough to stop this,’ he fired his weapon at the building, creating a scorched hole in the concrete. _Please don’t posture Lena, please don’t posture._

Lena took another step forward, jaw tightening.

‘You can’t scare the people of National City. We will never let you get away with this.’ _Dammit Lena! I don’t have all my powers!_

‘Oh, is that so?’ He levelled his weapon at her chest and grinned maniacally. Kara leapt into action and, with a little subtle help from her ability to fly, she tackled Lena out of line of fire. They crashed onto the floor together and scrambled clear as Supergirl flew in to rescue them, or rather distract the thieves.

Lar tapped one the men on the shoulder and cracked him firmly in the jaw when he turned to face him. He smiled smugly and gave himself a pat on the back for his good deed before going back to eating his way through the buffet table.

Kara and Lena stumbled under the stage, sliding towards the device they had placed there earlier. The thieves were wreaking havoc and people were scattering quickly, Winn included. He dove under the stage for cover, finding his friends.

‘Oh, hey guys,’ he tried to look as far away from whimpering coward as he could but was largely unsuccessful.

‘Sorry Winn but I really need to concentrate right now.’ Winn closely examined the device, understanding washing over his face. He reached a hand forward and reconnected a loose wire.

Nothing happened.

‘Did it work?’ Kara asked nervously.

Lena lifted up the thin material keeping them out of sight. The thieves were angrily smacking their weapons with confusion smeared faces.

‘Yep,’ Lena said proudly as she shuffled out from under the stage. Some of the lighting had been knocked out by the EMP but any damage she had inadvertently caused she would have been happy to pay to replace.

Supergirl easily rounded up the thieves, ready for the police to take them away. Kara and Winn straightened themselves out as they left their cover.

‘I think Alex is going to have to stop giving you guys a hard time about your plans,’ Winn said cheerfully, patting Kara on the shoulder. Kara caught Lena’s eye and smiled excitedly.

‘Another case closed for DL Investigations,’ she said with her best impression of a deep voice over. Lena laughed in an almost giggle, just a touch of utter devotion sparkling in her eyes. She looked around for Supergirl, hoping to get a triumphant picture with the crack team of justice seekers, but Supergirl had left without so much as a “are you okay Miss Luthor?”

First Supergirl and Kara had behaved strangely around each other and then Supergirl had left without her usual cheerful thanks and stern pleading to be more careful. Lena had her suspicions something was going on between Supergirl and Kara. Of course, she would fall for the two most perfect women that just happen to be seeing each other…

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_I’m surprised she didn’t sprain her ankle jumping to conclusions quite so vigorously._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure about the update next weekend as I'm going to be busy. But I'll see what happens.


	10. Double Disguised

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's taken so long guys :/

**ACT III**

 

Since the gala a lot had happened. Kara and Lena had only grown closer, unable to imagine a happy life without the other in it. It had been two months, three weeks and four days of hand holding, snuggling on the couch and finding the time for each other every single day. And now, Lena was down on one knee in front of Kara, both their hearts nervously racing.

‘All I’m saying is this is exactly the kind of thing that’s going to get us killed,’ Kara mumbled as she watched Lena slide slender silver tools into the brass lock at her eye level.

‘Isn’t this why we took the PI training course?’ Lena absentmindedly said as her concentration was held by the task in front of her.

‘No. We took that so we’d be better investigators. This is just breaking and entering.’

‘This is investigating. We know something is going on. And you and I both know it must be something big.’

‘Well, she’s going to know we did this. She always knows,’ Kara paused as she heard footsteps beyond the door, ‘in fact I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s on the other side of that door right now.’

‘She told you she’s working a case, she’s not-‘ Lena was interrupted by the door opening and one very grumpy Alex Danvers scowling down at her, ‘-home…’

‘Told you,’ Kara muttered with slight trepidation creeping in.

‘There better be a good explanation for this,’ Alex snapped as she eyed the lockpicking tools in Lena’s hands.

‘Umm…’ Lena looked to Kara for help and received nothing but palms of surrender and a shrug. She slowly stood up straight and cleared her throat. ‘We were worried about you. You haven’t been this checked out since you and… since Maggie...’

‘I’m not checked out,’ Alex said with affront, crossing her arms tightly.

‘Checked out isn’t the right phrase maybe,’ Kara interjected, ‘it’s just that you’ve been avoiding us lately and you’ve never missed game night before without there being some kind of work emergency.’

Alex worked very hard not to say the first thing that came to mind, _I can’t watch you two idiots anymore without banging your heads together!_ She looked at the concerned expressions on their faces and sighed.

‘I’m fine,’ she shrugged, ‘I just feel like I’m stuck in a rut. I already know what’s going to happen at game night tonight. You and Lena are going to pair up because apparently you can’t do anything on your own. Winn’s going to whine about how unfair that is. James is going to be quietly judging Lena for no fucking reason. Johnny will somehow start an eating competition with Kara and take a power nap in the fourth game. I’ll drink three beers, eat four slices of pizza and some nachos. And at the end of the night I’ll be congratulating Lena on another victory.’

Lena swallowed nervously and gave a shy smile, her fingers knotting together. She couldn’t help feeling that maybe she had ruined game nights with her presence. Should she have tried to lose more often? Was James’ dislike of her throwing the whole night off balance? Should she have taken the three feet of space between Kara and Lena rule more seriously?

Kara could practically feel Lena’s descent into self-doubt and worry. She subconsciously migrated closer and rested the palm of her hand on Lena’s spine. Kara couldn’t let Lena blame herself although she knew she would. Her face suddenly brightened. Alex was wrong.

‘Lena’s bringing her friend from work. It’ll be different,’ she said with a bright grin.

Alex’s lips twisted, unimpressed. Lena drew her gaze up and tried to confidently look at Alex’s hard stare.

‘Sam, I invited Sam…’ she looked anxiously between the two Danvers sisters, ‘… I asked Kara first of course.’

‘I really think you’ll like her,’ Kara excitedly added.

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Little did she know just how much…_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

‘I will come on one condition,’ Alex smiled smugly, confident Kara and Lena wouldn’t be able to agree to her demand.

‘Just tell us,’ Kara nodded rapidly while Lena sank back into the feel of Kara’s palm on her back.

‘You two,’ Alex waved her finger between them, ‘can’t be a team.’ She jostled her eyebrows at them before they turned to look at each other in dismay.

‘But-‘ Kara started.

‘We can’t-‘ Lena tried.

‘Kara can pair up with me, and Lena can pair up with her work buddy.’

The two of them stared, open mouthed, at each other. Lena glanced sideways at Alex and her shit eating grin. Ordinarily Lena would have worried about the possibility that this was simply the first step in Alex’s devious plan to separate Lena Luthor from her sister’s life. But today she saw a look in Kara’s eye that suggested that was the last thing she wanted. It made Lena confident in her friendship with Kara. She cleared her throat.

‘Okay,’ she croaked, ‘I’ll team up with Sam. It’ll make it even easier to crush you all.’ She smiled devilishly at Kara and received a sighing laugh of relief.

 

That afternoon a simple white envelope had been brought to Lena’s office, her name elegantly scrawled across in gold calligraphy. She was Lena Luthor, of course she received letters that looked like this. She knew it would be an invitation of some kind. It would be requesting the Luthor presence at a one percenter function and she’d be of two minds as to whether to accept it. Going would be great for business, not going would mean she didn’t suffer through ignorant uncompassionate conversation… and keeping another evening free to spend with Kara should she get the opportunity.

She’d picked it up, weighing the extravagant letter in her hands with a thoughtful expression. But upon opening it she was struck by fury.

 _Fucking Veronica Sinclair_.

Darling Lena,

You must be getting awfully bored running Luthor Corp now that Lex has stopped trying to kill you every five minutes. Fortunately, I have something that will pique your insatiable appetite for danger and excitement. I’m still in the blood sports game and this will be perfect for a member of the Luthor family.

                Much love,

                                V

An old school acquaintance of Lena’s had reached out to the Luthor name, used her strained connections to draw a little extra venom to her event. She really didn’t know Lena very well. A Luthor she might be but an alien hating, violence loving despot she was not. Lena had absolutely no intention of accepting Veronica’s invitation to watch aliens brutally beat each other.

Lena knew the crowd, knew how to read between the lines of Veronica’s invitation, knew it was from Veronica by the intricately detailed dragon curling across the card. Her jaw clenched as she examined it, turning it over to see the printed details of when and where.

Her mind drifted to a conversation she had thought about many times over the past few months. A weary Supergirl had fallen into deep conversation with her so easily. She had trusted Lena to know that she had arrived on Earth as a child, a frightened and nervous child. Her anger rose as she imagined a vulnerable refugee, a young Supergirl, being preyed upon by a predator like Veronica Sinclair.

The same protective instinct that drove her to throw herself into danger and protect Supergirl from the alien weapons was bubbling up once more. Her mind raced with determined ideas. This was the perfect thing to test her newly acquired investigative skills. But it was also the kind of danger Kara was not going to be happy about. Approaching the topic would be a delicate procedure.

_I had intended to jump straight to the end of game night here. But **someone** *cough* Alex *cough* was quite insistent that I fill in more of the day’s events. And I still owe her for sorting out that little mess with your visa…_

Just as Alex reached the door to Kara’s building a tall, astoundingly elegant woman raised her arm for the door handle, eyes fixed on her phone. Her fingers brushed over Alex’s and she startled, shining hazel eyes tearing from the screen.

‘Oh, I’m sorry. I wasn’t looking,’ she smiled pleasantly. There was a warmth and friendliness that exuded from every pore of her skin, striking Alex right in the chest. Her jaw dropped open, stumbling for words and eventually deciding to simply pull the door open for this soul soothing siren.

‘Thank you,’ the woman smiled at her again and Alex shuffled through the door behind her, heartbeat stuttering. All Alex had to do was get to Kara’s apartment and she’d be safe, she could get her pulse under control and breath steady again.

She took the first few stairs and noted the woman doing the same. Their eyes met briefly before darting away. When they made it past the first floor and rounded the stairwell to continue up further they shared an awkward laugh.

After the second floor the cause of all Alex’s nerves cleared her throat and opened her mouth to speak.

‘You’re not Alex Danvers, are you?’

‘Who’s asking?’ she replied, suddenly suspicious.

The woman shook her head as she apologised and stretched out her hand.

‘Sam Arias.’

 _Fuck!_ Alex wasn’t going to make it through game night. She gulped and took Sam’s hand. They had paused the ascent and stood half way up the stairs. All Alex could think about was how soft Sam’s hand was while she gazed up into her eyes.

They both seemed to realise that the handshake had gone on too long at the same time. Alex awkwardly stepped back and rubbed at the back of her neck.

‘Yeah, I’m Alex.’ They began their steady plod up the stairs again and before Alex knew what she was doing, she was speaking. ‘Do they only hire models at L-Corp?’

Alex’s eyes widened as the words slipped away from her and Sam’s cheeks pinked. Sam softly shook her head.

‘Lena didn’t warn me to watch out for Kara’s charming sister.’

When they approached Kara’s door Alex had a goofy grin on her face that only slightly confused Kara as she swung the door open for them before they could knock. Sam tentatively stepped inside, offering up a bottle of wine and confidently heading in to greet the rest of the gang. Meanwhile Alex leant towards Kara’s ear.

‘I’ve changed my mind…’

‘Huh?’ Kara’s brow crinkled.

‘You can pair up with Lena.’

A moment of continued confusion marked Kara’s face before the clues lined up and she solved the case. Her smile shone bright with mischief and she gave her sister a knowing smirk.

Alex shoved past her with a huff and headed straight for the fridge to get herself a beer.

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Prepare yourself. I have a feeling I will be blackmailed into telling you more about how Aunt Alex and Aunt Sam happened…_

_Alex has just told me there will be no blackmail… I’ll “do it out of the goodness of my heart because the world needs this love story.”_

_But really, I think we both know she wants me to write it so she can give it to Evie._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

Lena was late. Not completely unusual for a workaholic but Lena had never been late to a game night yet. Alex, Kara and Sam made light conversation in the kitchen while Winn, Lar and James lounged around the coffee table. Lar had been sprawled in ungainly fashion across an entire couch when he suddenly sat up and turned to look directly at Winn.

‘On your planet, do you have mates?’

Winn’s head tilted while his face creased in confusion. He took a sip of his beer and considered his response.

‘I thought you knew that,’ he hesitantly replied.

‘Oh, I know about lovers and marriages,’ he said dismissively, ‘they are fleeting, temporary, kind of like on Daxam. But on Krypton… they bound themselves to one person for life.’

Winn objectively knew this. He had discussed the cultural differences between their planets with Kara a long time ago. He had known that when Kara chose someone, _really_ chose someone, it would be for life. He had known, she was never going to be the type to give her whole heart a second time.

But as Lar’s words filtered into his mind Winn’s mouth dropped open in slight shock.

‘Marriage is supposed to be permanent,’ James said emphatically.

‘Oh…’ Lar hummed in thought, ‘who chooses the pairings?’

‘We do,’ James replied with an almost dumbfounded laugh.

‘You? You make all the mate decisions for the planet?’ Lar suddenly straightened and managed to look at James with more respect. James snorted patronisingly.

‘No, you make the choice for yourself.’

‘Oh…’ Lar repeated. He relaxed back into the seat and looked across to the kitchen. His eyes softened when a small smile grew on his face. ‘Has Kara chosen?’

Winn choked on a sip of beer causing James to pat him firmly on the back.

‘No,’ James said.

‘Well…’ Winn cleared his throat, ‘not officially.’

James’ brow set with a deep furrow.

‘Did I miss something?’ he asked.

‘I think so,’ Winn sighed.

‘Unofficially?’ Lar interjected.

Winn glanced over at the kitchen, where Kara seemed to be unaware of their conversation. He gnawed nervously on his lip, contemplating carefully. Perhaps if he didn’t actually say the name it wouldn’t be the kind of betrayal he felt it might be…

‘Whose MIT sweater is Kara wearing? Whose coat is here even before she is? Who’s got her own shelf in Kara’s fridge? Kara’s fridge?! Whose favourite flowers are always on the table now? Who’s got a spare pair of glasses on Kara’s bedside table? Who noticed Kara’s personalised ring tones? Who’s asking Kara if she’s okay when none of us even realised she might not be?’

There… he hadn’t said her name.

‘Oh,’ both Lar and James muttered as they sunk back into their seats.

Lar stretched out across the seat again and contemplated the high ceilings of Kara’s apartment while James studied Kara. She animatedly spoke to Sam and Alex, hands gesticulating wildly, eyes sparkling with a constant smile on her face. James’ own expression soured and just as it seemed he might have been about to speak, Lena unlocked the door.

She casually ran through a routine that was obviously well practiced. She knew just how hard to push the door to close it properly without slamming it, she smoothly slotted her shoes into place next to Kara’s, hung her bag on the coat rack, tossed her keys to the side knowing they’d land in the colourful bowl by the door, and sauntered to Kara’s side. They both absentmindedly reached out with a single arm, sinking into each other with comfortable ease. Both their smiles just a little bit wider for it.

James’ jaw clenched while Winn smiled knowingly and gave him a wink.

‘Told you,’ he tilted his beer bottle towards the kitchen where Kara’s mind was spinning tracks… well, one track. ‘Home’ by the Magnetic Zeros. Not a very strange song to think of when feeling completely comfortable at home, but certainly something to think about when it doesn’t start playing until a particular someone walks through the door.

Lena pressed up on her toes and quietly spoke in Kara’s ear while Alex was distracted with Sam.

‘I’ve got a new case; can we talk about it after game night?’

Kara turned a soft smile on Lena and squeezed her arm a little tighter.

‘Of course.’

‘Alright, let’s play some games!’ James interrupted from the lounge area. If he had been hoping to put a little distance between Kara and Lena, he must have been sorely disappointed. Those two stuck to each other’s sides even through an incredibly tense round of kerplunk.

And, as it turned out, Kara had been incredibly accurate when she had said this game night would be different. The combined might of Sam and Alex - dubbed “Team Alam” by a slightly tipsy Winn who had been mortified when “Team Sex” first sprang from his lips – had been a formidable opponent for Karlena.

Team Alam had clinched victory in trivial pursuit and operation while Karlena had continued their domination of Jenga and Life. With Lar being the only other winner of the night – a surprising talent at kerplunk - it all came down to Monopoly, more specifically, which L-Corp businesswoman could bankrupt the other. Both Danvers sisters threw smack talk at each other while enthusiastically encouraging their team mate.

The victor, unfortunately, will never be known. Sam received a phone call from Ruby’s baby sitter, concerned that the girl was feeling unwell.

‘You’ve been saved this time, Luthor, but next time… prepare to be poor,’ Sam said as she rose to her feet. She hurried through gathering her things together and Alex huffed despondently as the door closed behind her. She had missed her chance to exchange numbers with Sam and was fairly certain there was no way in hell she was going to ask Lena for Sam’s phone number.

‘Anyone want to head to M’ganns?’ Lar suggested, causing a number of slight cringes as the group hoped that Lena wouldn’t pick up on the strange name.

‘Johnny, please don’t go out drinking now. You have work tomorrow morning,’ Kara pleaded.

‘Oh, don’t worry about that,’ Lar waved his hand dismissively, ‘I got fired, so I don’t have to go to work tomorrow,’ he said merrily.

‘You got what?’ Alex, Winn and James shuffled hurriedly out the door as Kara rounded on Lar.

‘Fired,’ he foolishly said with a smile. Kara sputtered in disbelieving anger. Meanwhile, Lena busied herself by setting up their usual case workspace.

‘La- Johnny! You need a job… you can’t just keep doing this!’

‘But it’s always so boring,’ Lar sulkily muttered, ‘it was all so much easier on Daxam.’

Kara’s head whipped to Lena, relief spreading on her face when it seemed obvious that Lena was too engrossed in her whiteboard scribblings to have been paying attention to Lar’s words. Kara’s shoulders sagged with a sigh of utter exasperation.

‘Just… go home Johnny. We’ll talk about this later.’

Lar’s face was a portrait of confusion. He had thought the evening had gone rather well but somehow, and he wasn’t quite sure how, he had disappointed Kara. It was almost as though Kara had expected Lar to make real effort to seamlessly blend into Earth society. And who could expect Lar to make such an effort?

Kara slumped on the sofa after Lar’s departure and Lena quietly sat beside her.

‘He’ll get there,’ Lena gently massaged the tension building in Kara’s shoulders, ‘your cousin is personable, he’ll get another job in no time.’

Kara let the rising frustration and disappointment flow out of her. There was no room for it when she was in Lena’s company, her spirit too busy overflowing with comfort and adoration. She hummed happily and looked at the few notes Lena had written on the whiteboard.

‘So, what’s this case?’

Lena’s hands stilled before they shifted nervously to her lap. She had been wrapped up in the idea of charging in with Kara at her side and putting a stop to Veronica’s dastardly behaviour. And now she was faced with the realisation that in order to explain the situation to Kara, she would need to tell Kara she knew the kind of woman who would do such things. Lena would have to tell Kara the kind of social circles that being a Luthor put her in. And then, after all that, she would have to tell Kara she wanted to potentially risk her safety… again. She swallowed audibly and avoided meeting Kara’s eyes, shame roiling in her gut.

It didn’t matter that she would never approve of Veronica Sinclair’s “business”, they very association was deserving of Kara’s complete disappointment… surely?

‘Have you ever heard of Veronica Sinclair?’ Lena’s eyes were fixed on the non-existent dirt under her nails, ‘she sometimes goes by Roulette.’

Kara shook her head, picking up on Lena’s nerves and placing a gentle hand over Lena’s.

‘That makes sense,’ Lena said thoughtfully, ‘she’s not the kind of person someone like you would ever want to know.’

‘Has she hurt you Lena?’ There was such devotion, worry and understanding in Kara’s voice that the words stuck in Lena’s throat. She reached for her nearly empty glass of wine, downing the rest and gulping loudly.

‘Not me personally, no.’ It was too much for Lena, to be surrounded by Kara as she waited for the disappointment that would follow. She stood up and paced towards the window. ‘She sent me an invitation…’

‘And by the sounds of it I’m guessing it wasn’t to a friendly party,’ Kara softly said. Lena shook her head and lightly clicked her tongue.

‘No, it wasn’t,’ she pushed herself to continue, ‘we went to school together. She used to run a number of successful but entirely illegal events. Her most profitable were the fight nights she would set up.’ Lena made her way across the room and slipped the invitation from her bag before handing it to Kara.

Kara scanned over it, the crinkle forming deeply.

‘…perfect for a member of the Luthor family?’ Kara cautiously asked.

‘Exactly what you think it means,’ Lena softly spoke while her hands fidgeted uncontrollably.

‘She’s running an alien fighting ring?’ Kara’s face was full of shock and disbelief and she seemed to search her apartment for sense. ‘… How did I not know about this?’ she mumbled while her fingers tightened around the crumpling invitation.

Lena’s head cocked thoughtfully.

‘How could you know about this?’ Lena’s suspicions that Kara and Supergirl were one in the same had been thoroughly disputed no more than three months ago… she was sure… but then Kara would say things like that and she’d be puzzled again. Kara stilled before her nervous glasses fiddle appeared and raised Lena’s suspicions further.

‘Oh, well you know… I’m Supergirl’s friend… I write articles about aliens all the time. This is the kind of thing I should know about, right?’ Kara made a good point and Lena accepted it as truth with a shrug. A few moments of silence passed by as Kara contemplated the invitation in her hands. She turned it over, looking intently at the date. ‘Tomorrow?’

Lena nodded gently, searching Kara’s face for the disappointment in Lena’s connection that she had been so positive was coming. And now sat here, gazing into worried blue eyes, she had no idea why she had ever thought Kara would look at her differently. Kara who was the first person to see straight past the Luthor name.

‘I’m guessing your plan was for us to attend and do some snooping while we’re there, hoping we don’t get caught and beaten to a pulp for our trouble?’ Kara sighed with her words, just knowing Lena’s plan would be pretty basic at best.

‘Oh,’ Lena looked a little affronted as she sat back from Kara, ‘there’ll be no hoping. We’re fully trained investigators now. We will get in and out without a hitch.’

Kara’s brow creased and her lips tightened.

‘That,’ Lena pointed at Kara’s face, ‘is not the face of a woman who trusts her best friend.’

Kara’s crinkle only deepened.

‘I am deeply hurt,’ Lena clutched a hand over her chest, ‘we made it out of Galaxy Communications without any training whatsoever. We’re naturals _with_ training now…’

‘Alex is not going to like this…’ Kara muttered.

Lena beamed at Kara with a little scrunch of her nose, knowing Kara was going to go along with the plan.

‘Alex never likes our plans… or anything much for that matter,’ Lena nudged Kara’s side.

‘She seemed to like Sam a lot…’ Kara mumbled through a mischievous smile. Lena couldn’t help laughing, because yes, she had noticed how completely smitten Alex had been. But that was besides the point. She had to convince Kara.

‘Plus it’s a masked event, Ronnie’s practically begging people to snoop…’

Kara snorted and began wondering just were one got that kind of a mask on such short notice. _Lena probably knows people._  

* * *

 

Lena did know people. Jess had just received delivery of two dresses and two unnecessarily extravagant masks when a very pushy and quick footed girl slipped past her desk. And this time, much to Jess’ frustrated surprise, it wasn’t Kara.

‘Hey! Ruby! You can’t just go in there!’

Ruby threw a grin over her shoulder and continued her skipping steps through the office door, Jess scampering behind.

‘I’m so sorry Miss Luthor,’ Jess was having some serious déjà vu, ‘she was just so fast…’ some intensifying déjà vu…

Lena laughed pleasantly and waved away Jess’ concerns.

‘It’s no problem Jess. Thank you.’

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_So, the Kara Danvers exemption from security really was a special one off…  
You can literally be the CFO’s daughter and you still don’t get the same instant unrestricted access that Kara gets._

_But, then… you already knew that. I still remember very clearly the day your access to the labs was revoked… sure your pout melted her resolve pretty quickly and you were back in there the next day, but still…_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

 

‘What can I do for you?’ Lena asked as Ruby jumped into a chair and Jess let the door softly click shut.

Ruby swung her backpack in front of her and ferreted around for her folder. It was a folder she had been working on for a couple of months between school, homework, football practice and choir. She held it up triumphantly and slid it onto Lena’s desk.

‘One extensive business plan.’ The slap of the plastic on her desk was an oddly pleasant noise to Lena’s ears. It was the sound of a job well done or a gauntlet being thrown down, never anything in between. Lena splayed her fingers over the cover and dragged it towards her, maintaining eye contact with Ruby.

She appraised Ruby as she would any other potential business partner, something that Ruby appreciated. She never felt that Lena considered her age a sign of her inability to be successful. Lena gave Ruby a small knowing smile before breaking her gaze and flicking open the folder.

Ruby had really done her homework, she had contacted potential suppliers and narrowed them down to organic produce growers in the local area. She had carefully calculated running costs and likely profits. She had considered storage options for product while the shop was closed. Lena was impressed. It really was extensive, complete with bar graphs and survey results. She need only invest in this project and the rest Ruby seemed perfectly capable of handling.

Lena hummed noncommittally. She flicked back and forth through the pages several times, not letting any expression slip onto her face.

Ruby watched her with barely contained anticipation, fingers slightly grasping at the arms of the chair.

‘I see your initial investment request has gone up,’ Lena said absently.

Ruby swallowed nervously before straightening in her seat.

‘My decision to run this as an organic produce only shop has unfortunately raised start up costs, but I think you’ll see from my survey results that customers are more likely to buy organic. My customer base has grown with the decision.’

Lena nodded and firmly closed the folder before flicking it back across her desk toward Ruby.

‘And if I were to offer only half the money you were requesting?’

Ruby’s lips twisted briefly before she picked up the folder and hopped to her feet.

‘Then I’m afraid I’d have to speak with more interested parties.’

A smile of satisfaction, and perhaps a hint of pride, stretched across Lena’s face. She rose from her seat and offered her hand.

‘Then you’ve got yourself a full investor in L-Corp.’

‘Really!?’ Ruby squealed before composing herself, ‘I mean, of course.’ She shook Lena’s hand with a toothy grin. The girl bounded around the desk and launched herself into Lena’s slightly surprised arms. ‘You’re totally forgiven for stealing so much of mom’s time now,’ she chuckled.

It was at that moment Lena knew that if she ever had children she was going to be the biggest sucker imaginable.

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_And don’t I know it…  
Muhahahaha_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

Sam entered Lena’s office with a determined look on her face, quietly muttering to herself. She worried her lip and took a deep breath before beginning to speak.

‘Lena… about Ale-‘ she stopped short at the sight of Ruby and snapped her mouth shut.

‘Hey mom,’ Ruby said excitedly, ‘I’m officially a CEO now. As my first executive order, I’m declaring that we are going to have pizza for dinner.’

‘Oh really?’ Sam cocked a challenging brow. Ruby weighed up her options and went with bold confidence.

‘Yep. Meat feast. No pineapple!’

Sam looked at Lena’s amused smile and sighed with a shrug.

‘Well, you are the boss now apparently.’ She picked up Ruby’s bag and beckoned Ruby over. ‘Come on, let’s get out of Lena’s hair. Lena scribbled a quick note and held it out over the desk.

‘Oh Sam… didn’t you come for something?’ she said with a devilish grin. Sam looked at her quizzically and slowly took the piece of paper. She turned it over and saw “ALEX” just above what was obviously a phone number. Sam looked up and nodded tightly at Lena with a small thank you smile.

 

Shortly before their impromptu sleepover the night before they had decided that the best course of action was to meet at L-Corp and use one of Lena’s town cars to get to the event. So, a little before seven Kara had stumbled into her office munching away on a burrito. 

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_I may have glossed over that sleepover part too hastily._  
But I’m beginning to sympathise whole heartedly with Aunt Alex.  
I just can’t with those two sometimes.

 _~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_  

‘Mexican is almost as good as Chinese,’ she said with cheeks bulging.

Lena looked up to see her friend, currently very reminiscent of a hamster, and felt instant joyous relief spread across her face. Kara flopped onto the sofa almost dropping food on the white material and looking around guiltily. Lena couldn’t help laughing at the way Kara suddenly leant as far away from the seat as she could to shovel the rest of her food in her mouth.

‘Have you only just discovered Mexican food?’

Kara shook her head vigorously, chewing rapidly to empty her mouth.

‘One time, in Mexico I had the best enchiladas. I’m just trying to rank my favourite kinds of food. It’s tough going.’

Lena continued reading through the last pages for the day as she mumbled, mostly to herself.

‘… that’s a very Kara thing to do.’

Kara’s eyes turned to the ceiling as she thought about it.

‘Hmm, I suppose it is. But that’s only because humans just don’t appreciate food enough.’

Lena’s brow furrowed and Kara instantly realised her poor word choice. Fortunately, Lena had not been paying attention, instead an undesirable stipulation for a business acquisition had creased her forehead. Her pen clattered against the desk when she determined not to sign until she’d had it renegotiated.

She sighed as she stretched out her back and felt it click in a few places.

‘I suppose we should start getting ready,’ Lena gestured towards the dresses hanging by the door. Kara shot up and examined them, both black to facilitate easy blending in, but one with a significantly more plunging neckline. One could say Kara knew that neckline was for Lena, but in truth Kara simply hoped it was for Lena… because friends gaze longingly at friend’s cleavages and we all know it…

At this point in their friendship, they had shared a bed far too many times, hugged far too long and gazed far too lovingly. But what they had not ever done was change in front of each other. Apparently today was the day that happened because Kara started unbuckling her belt.

 _Sweet Jesus!_ Lena averted her eyes, zeroing in on her own dress and resolutely not looking as she heard Kara kick off her shoes. When Lena fumbled with her zipper, still trying to keep her mind clear, Kara bounced over and reached out to help.

‘Thanks,’ Lena said, making the mistake of looking over her shoulder. Kara was stood there, with her ridiculously toned muscles on full display, wearing nothing but a matching set of ice lolly print underwear. _FUCKING JESUS SHIT FUCK! How is this fair?!_ There’s knowing Kara is outrageously jacked and simultaneously adorable, and then there’s seeing it. Lena’s mouth was dry as the Sahara in a fraction of a second and her thirst was only growing.

She snapped her attention back to the task at hand, getting dressed. With her back to Kara she let her work dress drop to the floor around her feet and completely missed the way Kara’s eyes bulged. The tranquil floating music of ‘Albatross’ filled Kara’s head while she gazed in open mouth awe. The smooth planes of exquisitely pale skin that made up Lena’s back were beckoning Kara. Her hand even lifted, fingers itching to run along her shoulder blades. She balled her fist and shook herself free of Lena’s hypnotising beauty at the last moment, though Fleetwood Mac were not helping.

Somehow the pair of them managed to get into their dresses and shoes without dehydrating, and they were able, mostly, to look at each other again.

‘Better check it fits okay before we go,’ croaked from Lena’s throat. She paced across the room to fill a glass of water as she pointed towards the intricately detailed masks sat on her desk. Kara’s eyes lit up as she struggled to decide between the fox or the black panther.

* * *

 

 One slightly awkward car ride later and the pair of them were back to their usual overly friendly selves. Even better, Kara had selected the fox mask. She had loudly declared that ‘I like dogs better than cats… even though cats are awesome and panthers are great.’ But in reality, had chosen the fox after deciding that Lena was absolutely befitting of the sleek black-haired predator that’s really just a big pussy cat…

There was a certain thrill for Kara as they discretely showed the invitation and gained access to the underground event. This was sort of, maybe, exactly what Kara had been hoping for when she dreamed of being a reporter. Sneaking in to gatherings of corrupt elites, even more fun with a disguise, such as it was. Kara was one government official away from literally buzzing with excitement. And that was exactly what she was going to focus on because otherwise she would have to remember that she was attending yet another party with her stunningly beautiful best friend, who she was definitely not romantically interested in.

Lena confidently led Kara by their hooked arms. She was in her element, knowing exactly who to ignore and who to show a small amount of deference to so as not to raise suspicion. She had to hand it to Veronica, she still had a flair for decorating. The grimy disused warehouse only occasionally poked through the elegance of rich red curtains, sparkling chandeliers and sleek modern bars. Unfortunately, she was still the same smoke and mirrors Sinclair that Lena had known growing up. She had put all her focus on what the eye saw to trick the mind and had completely forgotten the four remaining senses. Lena mentally ran through how she’d improve business with scented air conditioning, a live band and comfortable booth seating.

‘You okay?’ Kara’s voice broke through Lena’s thoughts.

‘Huh?’

‘You’ve got your serious thinking face on. I can tell even with that mask on’

‘Oh,’ Lena’s face instantly loosened as a slight warmth began in her chest, ‘let’s get some drinks.’

‘Don’t we want to stay sober?’ Kara asked, following Lena anyway.

‘Of course, we do,’ she smiled over her shoulder, ‘holding a drink and drinking a drink are two very different things.’

‘Oh, right… blending in. Good idea.’

Lena immediately caught the attention of the bartender, _of course she did… look at her!_ Kara had always somewhat struggled to get drinks at a busy bar, she wondered if she’d have found it easier as Supergirl and stifled a small laugh at the idea. Lena was exuding a confidence that Kara rarely got to see. It was a confidence that came naturally to her in a business setting but seemed to completely dissipate in friendlier social situations.

For entirely unknown reasons Kara began to ponder what side of Lena would be on display if she were on a date. Halfway through imagining a hybrid of Lena’s self-assured saunter and her shy hand wringing, Kara was interrupted. An incredibly colourful and in all likelihood sickly sweet cocktail was slid along the bar towards her as Lena took her breath away with a grin.

‘Time to get sleuthing,’ she whispered into Kara’s ear and attempted a wink as she pulled away. Kara cleared her throat and blinked before gazing around the building.

Lena gently led her through the crowd, closer to where uncomfortable violence would no doubt soon be bloodying the floor. She nudged Kara and tilted her head towards a side door just as a tall, graceful woman strode through with two bodyguards trailing behind.

‘That’s Ronnie. How much do you want to bet that her office is behind that door?’

Kara smiled with excitement and slowly edged towards the doorway in question as Veronica announced herself to the crowd.

‘Ladies and Gentlemen! I’m seeing a lot of blood thirsty eyes tonight.’ She swaggered across the fighting arena, menacing grin fixed on her face. ‘Good.’

‘You went to school with her?’ Kara muttered.

Lena tried the door and let out a small laugh of satisfaction and superiority when it opened with ease.

‘Unfortunately, yes. She’s not the type you want to piss off without a back up plan either, so you could say we were acquainted.’

The office was lit only by a small, dim desk lamp, leaving the room in silhouette. But the silhouette that Kara could see was enough to stall her brain when Lena bent over to rummage through a desk drawer. And it’s really anybody’s guess as to whether it was the sneaky bass line or the somewhat devoted lyrics of ‘Lovecats’ that inspired Kara’s brain, but it was playing.

Shaking off the music didn’t seem to work but she diverted her eyes from Lena’s ass and began her own search of Veronica’s office.

‘Acquaintances?’ Kara asked, trying to focus on anything but Lena’s perfectly round derrière.

‘Mmm,’ Lena distractedly hummed, ‘a fling I’d really rather forget about.’

Kara could swear she heard brakes squealing and tires screeching to a halt. She’d known about Jack… and maybe she’d jumped to a heteronormative conclusion. Kara’s eyes were all but bulging and it seemed as though she’d forgotten how to swallow because she was choking on her own spit. She was trying her hardest not to actually cough and sputter, which was only making her eyes water. _Lena likes girls… Lena who I’m only platonically interested in likes girls… Lena Luthor dates girls!? Why has it taken me six months to learn this?!_

Needless to say, Kara was not putting her best investigative foot forward, nor was she particularly listening to what was going on outside the room. The door flung open and the pair of them startled into their most casual poses. Lena leant against the desk as though she had been awaiting Veronica’s return while, for some reason, Kara had decided to jump up and perch herself on top of the filing cabinet.

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Apparently, no amount of PI training was going to make these two any good at real detective work…_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

Kara’s strange sitting position up there raised Veronica’s brow questioningly. The two bodyguards thudded into the room and unmasked both Kara and Lena without much preamble.

Veronica’s eyes lit up at the sight of Lena and her smile turned mischievously flirty.

‘I knew I recognised those glorious curves.’ She inched ever closer to Lena and ran a finger along her pale bicep. ‘I suppose this means you’re even less Luthor than your mother led me to believe.’ Veronica swung around the desk and flopped into her chair.

Lena’s jaw tightened, urging Kara to jump down and stand by her side. Veronica’s eyes raked over Kara with dismissive appraisal.

‘… or maybe you’re only doing this to impress the peppy blonde,’ she shot Lena a challenging look but Kara stepped up to the plate.

‘She’d do this with or without me. What you’re doing is wrong,’ she said with authoritative confidence, gripping Lena’s hand. Veronica’s eyes narrowed on their clasped hands before shooting up to study Lena.

‘How terribly disappointing. I had always hoped you’d grow into the position you were handed, but here you are with budget Supergirl. We could have had a lot more fun if you’d been more like Lex.’

Kara froze. _Budget Supergirl?! What was that supposed to mean?! Kara Danvers is just as good as Supergirl, any day. Wait… I’m both… duh. But still, that feels offensive._

‘I would stand by her any time, any day, in any possible scenario you can imagine. She’s is and always will be a hundred times better than you.’ Kara’s head whipped to Lena, mouth agape. Lena tightened her grip on Kara’s fingers and set her shoulders with determination. Veronica’s eyebrows raised suggestively as she re-examined Kara, slightly biting her lip.

‘Oh really?’ she drummed her fingers on the desk. ‘Perhaps I’ll have to give her a try sometime.’

‘Uhh…’ Kara clamped her free hand over her mouth while Veronica leant back in her chair with a lazy smile.

‘I can see how you might consider her adorable or something,’ she waved dismissively. ‘Any way, it was a pleasure to see you as always Lena. Bert and Ernie will be locking you up in the basement now,’ she said without giving them a second look.

Kara didn’t see any sign of emotion cross their faces, but she got the distinct impression their names were not Bert or Ernie. She let them manhandle her and before she could formulate a plan she and Lena were chained up, back to back, around a load bearing pillar.

‘Not exactly how I envisioned this evening going,’ Lena mumbled.

‘Err, no me neither.’ Bert and Ernie left the way the had come, leaving the pair of them in darkness. The air was damp, tainted with the slight smell and taste of mould. Occasionally a heavy landing above them in the fights would knock dust down and sprinkle over them. A constant quiet rumble of cheering surrounded them until Lena couldn’t hold back anymore.

‘I’m so sorry Kara. This is all my fault.’

‘No, no. It’s not.’

‘It is. I keep pulling you into these crazy plans and you keep telling me it’s dangerous. I never listen and now look. Ronnie isn’t going to just let us go. She’ll probably spare me because I’m a Luthor, but she’ll use you to teach me a lesson.’

Kara gently pulled her wrists apart and snapped the chains binding her.

‘We’re going to be fine Lena. I’ve somehow mana-‘

‘Oh God. I might not have meant to cause harm but I’m just as bad as Lex. Pain and misery just follow my stupid name.’

‘No Lena. You’re good, you’re nothing like Lex.’

‘I wish that were true,’ Kara could hear the slight crack in Lena’s voice and knew Lena, as usual would be refusing to let herself cry. Kara heard a set of foot steps in the corridor. She might not get another opportunity. She leapt to her feet and skidded to a halt by the door.

‘Kara? What-‘

‘Ssshh.’

When the door opened the light flickered on and Kara threw a punch, hoping she had calculated the force of accurately. Bert or Ernie dropped to the floor like a sack of potatoes and Kara dashed back to Lena’s side.

‘Kara… how did you?’

‘Uh… broken link in the chain,’ she hurriedly unfastened Lena’s restraints and helped her to her feet. ‘Come on, let’s get out of here,’ she gave Lena the kind of confident and reassuring smile that she’d only seen on Supergirl before.

And Lena figured it out. She kept seeing Supergirl in Kara because everyone thinks the person they love is super… 

* * *

 

When Lena’s driver had pulled up outside Kara’s apartment building neither of them had really wanted to separate. So, Lena had walked Kara right to her door, then into her apartment, then to her bedroom because she just needed to tuck Kara in…

No matter how many times she had intended to head home, she had ended up texting her driver to go home and curling up under Kara’s blankets.

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Safe in the knowledge that obviously everything turns out fine, I’m actually glad one of their plans completely failed. There’s no way you can keep charging in with dumbass plans and expecting to come out the hero every time._

_Hearing them keep making the same mistakes was almost as painful as watching you keep eating the sand at the beach… you really should have learned that lesson faster._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

 


	11. About Time

Inspector Jacques Clouseau is arguably the most renowned bumbling detective to infiltrate popular culture. And perhaps this was where Kara took her inspiration as a detective. They had failed miserably in their attempts to gain anything other than witness testimony from a story hungry reporter and National City’s least trusted woman.

Kara was not about to let Veronica get away with pitting alien against alien though. Oh no, Kara was working on a new devilishly short-sighted plan. In fact, she had been humming at her desk, pen tapping on her chin, eyes glued thoughtfully to the ceiling all morning.

‘Keira!’ Kara startled to the present and her pen flew through the ceiling tiles, never to be found again. Her head nervously darted around, hoping no one had noticed her accidental display of throwing strength. She zipped to Cat’s office, straightening out the crinkles in her shirt as she went.

‘Yes Ms Grant?’

‘What do I pay you for Keira?’

‘Uh…’ she fiddled with the arm of her glasses, clearing her throat, ‘to report news stories?’

‘Is that a question? Are you unsure of your responsibilities at CatCo?’

‘Nope, not a question.’

‘Then maybe we have different ideas on what reporting is. Perhaps you’d like to explain your process to me because as far as I could tell you were simply daydreaming at your desk this morning.’ Cat finally looked up from her paperwork, raising an unimpressed brow at Kara and making her feel an inch tall.

‘Uh,’ Kara stuttered in response. Her feet turned awkwardly as she nervously searched for an excuse. ‘I was trying to figure out how I could infiltrate a criminal organisation,’ slipped out her mouth before she could think better of it.

Cat shifted in her seat, appraising Kara quietly. The silence seemed to stretch between them, twisting the nerves in Kara’s gut.

‘Expand.’

After excruciating seconds of figuring out what Cat meant Kara sputtered out some more words.

‘There’s an alien fighting ring, I know who runs it but it’s constantly on the move and I need tangible proof of it.’

‘And how did you come upon this information?’ Kara could hear her phone vibrating back at her desk. She’d just been sent two messages. Not something that would have affected her in any way if it weren’t for them being paired with the notification tone that chimed for Lena’s messages alone.

‘Umm…’ Kara’s hands gestured nervously as though she was actively scrabbling for an answer. _Definitely not from Lena… No way did I find out about very criminal activity from Lena Luthor._ ‘A source,’ she said with hopeful confidence.

‘A **reliable** source?’

‘Very,’ Kara said with an assured nod.

Cat’s face turned pensive as she glanced out the window. Not meeting Kara’s eye, she opened her mouth to speak.

‘ **Alien** fighting ring?’

‘Yeah… she gets aliens to fight each other.’

‘Then I would suggest that Supergirl and infiltration should be two very important words going forward.’ And there it was. No conversation with Cat was complete if Kara didn’t feel like maybe Cat knew she was Supergirl. But then, it wasn’t unknown that Kara had a “good working relationship” with Supergirl.

‘Right,’ Kara stuttered out with a confused tilt of her head. But her thoughts couldn’t focus on unscrambling Cat’s possibly not so subtle hints… she had messages from Lena waiting. ‘Is that all Ms Grant?’

‘For now. But if I see you sat dumbfounded at your desk again I shall assume that you’re not suited to being a reporter and have you back behind my assistants desk,’ she warned with a small smile and her eyes already scanning over the layouts for the next issue of CatCo Magazine.

Kara artfully sidestepped her way through the busy office and back to her seat, immediately reaching for her phone.

**Lena 11:38:** RED ALERT!

**Lena 11:38:** Save me

**Kara 11:41:** On my way

Kara’s higher brain functions sputtered and stalled, her brain only capable of simple word association when it came to selecting the latest track to grace her jukebox. ‘Jubel’ by Klingande would definitely not have been her first choice given the danger Lena likely found herself in, but it did at least encourage her to move with haste.

She leapt to her feet and dashed out just fast enough to have loose papers get swept up in her wake. She had never really understood why Alex had insisted she change outfits when she was running faster than the eye could see. So, she threw caution to the wind and sped across National City in a very Kara Danvers slacks and shirt ensemble.

Just as Kara was preparing to don her cape outside L-Corp and charge in to save Lena’s life from impossible peril she looked up and saw Lena alone on her balcony. She frantically scanned the offices for danger and upon finding none she scratched her head while the crinkle appeared between her brows. _Well, she still needs me I’m sure._

L-Corp security startled faintly when Kara seemed to appear out of nowhere, but they knew the rules. Not matter when or why, lowly CatCo reporter Kara Danvers was to be let straight through. She was waved on past the usual rigorous security checks and it was only seconds before she was tapping her foot impatiently in the elevator.

Her arrival chimed and the doors slid open to reveal a tall, fuzzy faced man lounging in a chair outside Lena’s office. Jess had an expression of concerned frustration that, surprisingly, brightened when she saw Kara.

Kara though, was too busy to appreciate the change in Jess’ feelings. She rushed on past like she had done so many times in the early days of their acquaintanceship. Strands of hair falling loose from her ponytail and panicked thoughts whirring in her head. She barely noticed the man and she certainly didn’t notice his eyes track her across the floor and turn inquisitive when she let herself into Lena’s office.

‘Lena!’ Kara couldn’t keep the traces of worry from lining her voice, it didn’t matter that she had seen Lena safe and apparently not in danger just minutes beforehand.

Lena swivelled and pushed away from the balcony railing before striding back in, suspicious confusion marking her face.

‘Kara? How did you get here so fast?’ _Oh yeah, sugar, this is why I turn up as Supergirl in an emergency._ Kara readjusted her glasses and straightened out the creases in her shirt. _Hmm, this shirt’s wearing a bit thin… but it’s brand new… oh… and **this** is why I don’t wear my clothes at superspeed._

‘Oh, umm, I uh, was already heading over here when I got your messages.’ Kara nodded to herself, happy with how convincing she had been. ‘What’s wrong? I thought Veronica was coming for pay back or something.’

‘Oh God, sorry. It’s nothing like that. Did you see him out there?’

‘Him? Who? The guy with the beard?’

‘A beard? That’s new.’ Lena’s mind drifted and Kara had completely lost her attention. This was a brand-new experience for Kara. Ordinarily she would have if not all then at least some of Lena’s attention when simply in the same room, never mind mid conversation. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, trying to figure out why this small change should make her feel as though her gut were twisting.

‘Who is he?’ she prompted.

Lena hummed thoughtfully before slowly returning to the room.

‘Oh, Jack. Jack Spheer. I told you about him, right?’

_Oh… Lena’s ex. The one she left behind to move to Metropolis. The one she would otherwise probably still be quite happy with._ The twist in Kara’s gut tightened but she smiled cheerfully enough at Lena.

‘Yeah. So, what’s the emergency?’

Lena looked at Kara as though she were an alien, for a brief moment Kara wondered if maybe her alien was showing.

‘He’s here Kara… What am I supposed to do?’

‘I would think you’re supposed to say hello,’ Jack said as he confidently entered the room with a charming and somewhat disarming smile. Jess dashed in soon after with a harried and frustrated expression that at one time would signify a visit from Kara.

‘I’m so sorry Miss Luthor,’ she rushed out before stopping abruptly. She wasn’t going to say it this time because in all honesty Jack hadn’t been that fast, he’d just caught her off guard. She was seriously thinking about getting some kind of barrier installed. Too many people seemed to think they could just waltz into Lena’s office whenever they liked.

Lena, meanwhile, was lost for words. Her mouth opened and closed several times in an attempt to display her usual cool demeanour. She felt Kara gravitate toward her but even that was not enough tender reassurance to make Lena believe that she would survive this mortification.

‘Shall I call security Miss Luthor?’ Jess managed to catch her eye with determination.

‘Uh…’ Lena blinked back into some semblance of her confident stature, ‘no, that won’t be necessary, thank you Jess.’ She nodded slowly and waited for Jess to guiltily step backwards through the door.

Kara cleared her throat as it seemed that Jack was unable to notice anything in the room beyond Lena. A feeling Kara was more than familiar with, but she didn’t like Jack feeling it. Her fists came to rest on her hips as she appraised him with less friendly eyes than usual.

‘Oh,’ Lena nervously dried the palms of her hands along the sides of her dress, ‘this is umm, this is Jack Spheer,’ she waved shaky fingers in his direction and gulped quietly. ‘Jack, this is Kara. Kara Danvers, the best reporter in National City.’ Kara’s cheeks flushed a furious pink as she turned her head away from Jack’s impressed gaze. He cheerfully held out his hand for her.

‘It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’ve actually read some of your work and I think I should thank you for painting such a beautifully honest picture of Lena.’ Kara instinctively accepted his handshake, but she may have accidentally tightened her grip just a tad too much as she shook. This guy was saying all the right things and Kara did not like it.

‘Mmm,’ she hummed in half-hearted agreement. ‘I write what I see. It’s easy to write beautifully about Lena,’ Kara released his hand and realised what she had said. ‘I mean, she’s beautiful… no, she’s umm, well she is… but…’ Kara shook her head, disbelieving even her own rambling, ‘I meant, Lena is beautifully honest and that’s how it is in my writing.’

Now Lena was struggling to keep a blush at bay and she was entirely unsuccessful at pulling back on the dopey grin stretching across her face. Jack looked between the two of them thoughtfully. There was something there that he couldn’t quite label. Words sprang to mind: unrequited, love, fools, adorable, mess. None of them wholly encapsulating what it was he was seeing. And whatever it was… he had come for a reason.

‘I’m guessing you’ve neglected lunch plans as usual Lena,’ he broke the silence with confidence and knowledge that Kara wished he didn’t have.

‘Actually,’ Lena smiled wryly, ‘I’ll have you know that these days I eat lunch regularly. Kara makes sure of it.’ Kara smiled smugly.

‘What else are best friends for?’ She had gotten Lena into the habit of eating lunch where Jack had clearly failed. One point to Kara.   

‘Then I must congratulate you Kara,’ his genuine smile threw Kara off, ‘I spent years trying to get her to pause her work and actually eat something, all to no avail of course. She’s a nightmare as I’m sure you know.’ _What? He’s too smooth and amiable. I don’t like him._ Her smile didn’t quite make it to her eyes

‘Yes, I was just going to take Lena out for our usual lunch.’

‘Of course,’ his hand splayed across his chest, ‘my fault for just turning up unannounced. How about dinner instead Lena?’

‘Uh,’ she swallowed nervously, hoping that if she agreed she could work on her plan of action with Kara over lunch.

‘We’d love to go for dinner. It would be great to get to know the only person Lena talks about from Metropolis,’ the words tripped off Kara’s tongue, but she was happy to have invited herself along. Lena was obviously going to need someone around to keep her safe from this sneaky guy, he was too nice, there was something shifty about him, or so Kara thought. And that British accent was doing him no favours on the trustworthy scale. Kara had watched enough films to know that the eloquent Englishman was always the villain in the end.

‘Oh,’ Jack’s eyebrows raised, ‘right. Yes, of course. I’d be delighted to get to know you too,’ he replied with a smile and only a trace of disappointment. ‘I’ll sort us out a reservation and call you with the details Lena,’ he said as he headed for the door.

Lena nodded with her mouth still open, not quite sure what had just happened. When the door closed her nerves calmed and she breathed a sigh of relief.

‘Thank you, Kara. I have no idea what I would have said if you hadn’t been here. Might have accidentally found myself on a date with him or something,’ her words were filled with the appropriate amount of mirth to let Kara know she was joking. But Kara missed it. _Thank goodness I was here._

‘So, lunch?’ She held her arm out for Lena, ready to bask in comfortable closeness.

‘Yes,’ Lena gladly linked their arms, ‘just a quick pit-stop at Jess’ desk. I’m supposed to be attending an engagement party tonight.’

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_She still insists that she was only ever acting as best friend when she invited herself along…_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

That afternoon, while knocking on Alex’s door, Kara asked herself what Jack could be up to and what he might be trying to drag Lena into. There had to be something, people were never just nice to Lena… except her… and Alex… and Winn… and Sam. And she really thought people should just be nice to Lena, she deserved it. But this guy had to be up to something.

‘It’s not locked Kara,’ hollered through the door. She let herself in to see Alex swinging with graceful strength at her punching bag, sweat just starting to bead on her brow.

‘How’d you know it was me?’

‘You’re the only one that knocks the Addam’s Family theme tune on my door…’

Kara couldn’t help smiling to herself, she hadn’t even realised she’d been doing it.

‘What’s got you stressed out then?’ she asked as she flopped onto the sofa.

‘Nothing, why?’

Kara scoffed and fidgeted until she was comfortably lying on her back.

‘You only hit the bag that hard when you’re stressed out. What’s going on?’

‘I do not.’

‘Do too.’

Alex shook her head, not wanting to get into the never-ending sibling cycle of do nots and do toos. Her shoulders sagged as her muscles relaxed and she prepared to talk to Kara about something they weren’t great at talking about.

‘You know Lena’s friend… Sam?’

‘…yeah.’

‘She sort of called me-‘

‘What? How did she get your number? That’s creepy. I’ll tell Lena. We’ll sort it out,’ Kara reached for her phone and was about to hit speed dial number two when Alex stopped her.

‘No, Kara. I’m glad she called me. Lena gave my number to her. We’re going on a date.’ Kara shot upright.

‘You are?’

Alex nodded gently and hummed positively.

Kara’s crinkle made an appearance. She was glad Alex was going on a date. Alex deserved someone. She was glad that Sam was not a weirdo because up until now she’d rather liked her, would have been happy to consider her a friend. But there was something nagging at her insides, not far from where they’d been twisting earlier in the day. Alex and Sam had made finding someone and asking them on a date look so easy and Kara was so close to figuring out what she was jealous of. So close.

‘So, what’s stressing you out?’

‘Kara… have you already forgotten the state I found you in when you nearly had that date with James?’

‘… oh. Need help picking an outfit?’

‘Err…’ Since Alex had really started to explore who she was, apart from Kara, she had really developed her own aesthetic. One that could gently be considered as “different” from Kara’s. But Alex felt she could hardly go wrong with a good dress for a dinner date, and Kara wasn’t bad at picking out good dresses. ‘Yeah, that’d be great,’ she smiled gratefully.

Kara skipped into Alex’s room, flung open the wardrobe doors and gazed carefully at the selection on offer.

‘You know Lena’s ex?’

‘No… should I?’

‘Jack Spheer? I must have mentioned him before.’ Alex choked on air and spluttered through her response.

‘Jack is a guy?’ Kara turned to Alex with a confused frown.

‘Yeah…’

‘Huh… learn something new everyday I guess.’ Kara’s confusion deepened but she shrugged it off.

‘I met him today. There’s something about him I don’t trust.’

‘Creepy vacant stare? Limp handshake? Weird innuendos about villainous crimes in conversation?’

‘No,’ Kara snorted, ‘none of that. Just… he seems too nice.’

‘Too nice?’

‘Yeah, he’s just so friendly and he umm… he has a British accent.’ Alex’s brow raised.

‘A British accent makes him too nice?’

‘Well… no. But it makes him sound less threatening or something. I don’t know. I just don’t trust him.’

‘Uh huh… not got anything to do with him being Lena’s ex then?’ Kara abandoned her absent-minded rifling through the dresses and turned to face Alex straight on.

‘No. Why would it?’ Alex rolled her eyes and shrugged.

‘No reason…’ she let the sentence linger, somewhat irritating Kara. Alex basked in the feeling of having sufficiently annoyed her sister until Kara pulled an outfit from her wardrobe. She felt a little guilty because Kara really had been paying attention to the person Alex was becoming.

She held up a pair of black jeans and a soft navy shirt for Alex to see.

‘Casual but like you’re making an effort,’ Kara said hopefully. Alex nodded and thanked Kara with a tight hug.

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_I think if I’d been in Alex’s position I’d have been screaming at them to just go on a date already. But then we’ve both learnt over the years just how patient Alex can be._

_She waited three months to get her own back on me for the air horn under her chair. Three months!? Just to make sure I wasn’t expecting it…_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

The day had not exactly gone how Kara had hoped it would. She had hoped that by now she and Lena would have come up with a plan to continue their investigations on Veronica. Instead she’d been given a helpful nudge in the right direction by Cat and then gotten completely thrown off course by Jack, with Lena’s input nowhere to be found.

And instead of getting to sit down and think about what she could do to infiltrate Veronica’s organisation, as per Cat’s wise instruction, Kara was mulling over clothing options for the second time that day.

What does one wear to have dinner with her best friend and their ex. What do you wear to impress the woman you definitely only have platonic feelings for whilst also telling the guy you find to be entirely suspicious that he needs to back off?

After deciding that such an outfit probably didn’t, nor would it ever, exist Kara went with a simple red dress. One that showed off her arms and hopefully made Jack feel a little less brave.

She made it to the restaurant a few minutes early and found Jack already waiting. He jumped to his feet and pulled the chair out for her cheerfully.

‘Kara, good to see you again.’ She eyed him cautiously as he sat back down.

‘And you,’ she replied with tight smile. Just as Kara was worrying she might have to make idle conversation with Jack Lena surprised them both by turning up on time. Once again Jack leapt to gentlemanly behaviour and pulled Lena’s chair out for her.

With Lena still struggling to decide how to act around Jack and Kara maintaining caution the conversation was stiff and awkward at best. But they ordered food and Jack seemed to be trying his best.

Once appetisers were out of the way and Lena had gulped down a glass of wine she loosened up and was more capable of conversation.

‘So, what brings you to National City Jack?’

‘I was wondering when you’d ask,’ he said with a wink, ‘Spherical Industries is looking to expand. I thought that National City might be a smart investment. And even if it’s not, it’s an extra excuse for me to visit you.’

Kara had been idly running her fingers along the edges of the napkin on her lap but at Jack’s words her fingers tightened and strangled the innocent piece of fabric. He was going to be visiting regularly? Kara’s gut was twisting tighter than the napkin and she struggled to keep the grimace from her face.

Jack and Lena continued animatedly discussing old times and the opportunities they would have to catch up if he did expand into National City. But Kara heard little more than white noise. Lena seemed so happy talking to Jack, so comfortable. And really, he didn’t seem to be there for any ulterior motive. She had to let go of her unfounded suspicion of him.

Lena’s eyes were sparkling and her smile was wide. None of it was Kara’s doing. It stabbed her in the heart. The knife twisted when she realised it probably wouldn’t take much for Jack and Lena to fall back into their previous relationship. Where would that leave Kara?

Wonder Woman’s theme tune interrupted the conversation. Kara quickly answered with an apologetic glance at Lena.

_‘Kara, we need you in Richmond. Thief with alien tech inside the Sofisticato art gallery right now.’_

‘Really?! Right now?’

‘Yes Kara, right now!’

‘Ugh,’ she grumbled, ‘fine. I’m on my way.’ She slid her phone back into her bag and guiltily turned to Lena. ‘I’m so sorry, I need to go. Alex needs my help.’

‘Oh, don’t worry Kara. We’ll be fine,’ Lena gently placed a hand over Kara’s and softly spoke. Toni Braxton’s deep melodic voice chimed in with Kara’s irrationally over dramatic subconscious. ‘Unbreak My Heart’ was twisting that knife further. It hurt more than Kara would like to admit. Because there was the cause of the pain she had been trying to explain. Lena would be fine. She would be just fine without Kara. Kara felt that perhaps she had merely been a conversational placeholder while Lena was apart from Jack.

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Which was incredibly dumb. Think of all that they had done together…  
It had never just been conversation._

_And can we just talk about that song choice? Her subconscious mind might have been more aware of her feelings but it sure was a drama queen…_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

It didn’t take Kara long to transform into reliable, confident Supergirl. Kara might have been wrestling with gut wringing, heart wrenching inner turmoil but Supergirl was steely and heroic as ever.

Alex filled her in over comms as she flew to the Richmond area. Apparently, some guy had been using advanced alien tech to bypass alarm systems and rob a number of city locales blind. He’d been pretty careful up until now but had accidentally tripped a silent alarm and Alex just happened to be on shift.

Supergirl hovered above the gallery, checking the place for danger. Only one person inside, one man that didn’t appear to have any weapons. Supergirl was a little bit annoyed she’d been called in for this, but she was here now, so she might as well get the job done.

It was easy enough for her to corner the sticky fingered chap and bind his wrists with a lamp power cable. Easy peasy. Except then he spoke, and Supergirl was completely baffled. This bulky figure softly spoke with a distinctly feminine voice behind that mask.

‘Silent alarm?’ They caught Supergirl’s eyes through the small eye holes. Supergirl nodded slowly before reaching up to gently remove the mask.

She stepped back while her forehead creased in thought.

‘You’re a girl…’

She looked down at herself, looked back up and put on an expression of mock surprise.

‘Woah. That’s not how I woke up this morning.’ Supergirl rolled her eyes.

‘But, you’re supposed to be a man… they said you were a man.’

‘And yet here I stand, very much a woman,’ she replied with a shrug of her shoulders and small eyebrow raise.

‘So, you just… dressed like a man and this whole time everyone has been looking for a man?’

‘Pretty much,’ she nodded, ‘yeah.’ A plan was beginning to formulate in Kara’s mind.

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_‘Oh dear’ I hear you say…_

_Oh dear indeed._

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

Back in the restaurant Jack was slowly, very cautiously, edging his way towards the elephant he could see in the room. Lena had relaxed into the collected woman he had known her to be. She’d had three glasses of wine and was coolly holding his gaze while twisting the stem of her wine glass. Conversation was easily flowing between them.

He just had to circle back to Kara. The questions was, how does one leap from experimental oncological research to a girl you think your ex might at the very least have a massive crush on? He couldn’t think of a way, neither can I, so he probably did the best he could in the circumstances.

He cleared his throat and sat straighter in his chair.

‘So… Kara…’

Lena narrowed her eyes at him, trying to guess where he might be going and hoping it wasn’t worst case scenario.

‘What about her?’

‘She seems nice,’ he began and Lena’s gaze started to feel heavy on him. ‘You two seem very close.’

‘We are. First friend I made in National City.’ Lena’s eyes drifted to her fingers slowly turning the glass. ‘Not sure I would have stuck it out if not for her.’ Her expression had turned wistful and Jack knew he was barking up the right tree.

‘And you’ve fallen for her.’

Lena’s head bolted up, eyes wide and mouth dropping open. It was absolutely worst case scenario, he went straight for exactly the thing she didn’t want to talk about.

‘Whaaat?’ _I thought I had this under control. How does he know already?!_ She shifted in her chair. ‘I don’t know what you mean. She’s just a friend.’

‘Uh huh,’ Jack grinned devilishly, ‘I’m sure. Just a friend. Absolutely.’ He nodded with faux seriousness. Lena’s shoulders sunk with a heavy sigh.

‘You always could see straight through me.’

‘My one and only talent in life I fear,’ he winked at her amiably and leant forwards, resting his forearms on the table. ‘How bad is it?’

Lena groaned and shuffled her feet under the table, reluctant to voice her feelings.

‘Oh,’ Jack sighed, ‘that bad?’

‘Yep,’ she replied with a weak nod. Her gaze fell to her fingers as they twisted in her lap but she continued. ‘Well… you’ve **seen** her… but it’s more than that. It’s like I can finally breathe with her. Like my last name isn’t Luthor. She’s this big crashing wave of sunshine that just banishes all that darkness from my life Jack. What am I supposed to do?’

Jack idly ran his fingers through his beard as he absorbed all of Lena’s words.

‘Wow, that’s pretty heavy,’ his brow creased in confusion, ‘but what happened to your confidence? Why don’t you just tell her how you feel or ask her out on a date?’

Lena’s face filled with horror, fear and abject offense.

‘Oh sure,’ she laughed, ‘I’ll just ask the most perfect human being I’ve ever met if she would maybe like to go on a date with Lex Luthor’s sister…’

‘Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t she already your best friend? Do you really think she’d be worried about you being a Luthor suddenly?’ Lena’s fidgeting hands stopped because no, Kara never cared about it. _Beautiful, wonderful, kind Kara has never been anything but accepting. Which is exactly why I can’t pursue this foolish infatuation any further._

‘I can’t risk pushing her away Jack. When she inevitably tells me she doesn’t feel the same way do you think things will ever be the same again?’

Jack’s face contorted against the palm of his hand, half squashed and half a picture of concentration. His soft eyes tried their hardest not to pity Lena, he knew she’d never want pity. But she was so obviously tangled up in a complex web of emotions that his efforts were in vain.

‘Can I suggest something you aren’t going to like then?’ His voice slightly muffled by the side of his palm.

‘You can suggest it I suppose. Doesn’t mean I’ll listen.’

Jack breathily laughed before continuing.

‘Perhaps you should put some distance between yourself and Kara. It’s not exactly easy to wrangle such strong emotions when you see the cause every day.’

Lena’s heart clenched so tightly she feared it may have stopped for a few seconds. The pain of unrequited love was barely a pin prick in comparison to the pain of losing any part Kara played in her life. No, she was quite happy suffering in silence all the while it meant she could keep Kara close.

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_Ever the unnecessary martyr…_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

Up in the hills of National City, where the city’s elite made themselves at home, Supergirl aimlessly floated while humming along to the song rolling around in her mind. Kara’s drama queen subconscious was intruding again, this time with Celine Dione’s ‘All By Myself’. She didn’t feel like returning to dinner with Jack and Lena. And besides there was a major problem.

Ordinarily a major problem for Supergirl meant launching herself into action, punching her way to victory. She could freeze it or heat vision it, maybe even eat the problem. She’d heard about Clark eating a bomb when he’d run out of time to defuse it.

Sometimes she was prepared to use her Kryptonian brain and find a logical way of solving problems. She felt like she’d just done that too. Sauntering into Veronica’s arena and snooping hadn’t really worked. But now she had a plan. She was going to take Cat’s advice.

Kara Danvers could never infiltrate an alien fighting ring. But Supergirl, in disguise, could easily pass as an alien… because she was an alien. And better still, as Supergirl she didn’t have to feel guilty about not involving her partner in crime solving. She could keep Lena at a safe distance.

But in forming her plan she had found her major problem. This was a spectacular plan, she was certain of it. So why was every inch of her telling her she was missing something? Why wasn’t she happy and excited to be moving forward in her investigations? Why was her stomach still twisting itself in knots as it had been since Jack had turned up?

She sighed miserably as she drifted over the excessive celebrations down below. Some heir to some company had gotten engaged and apparently that alone required marquees, hundreds of guests, champagne, ice sculptures and… were those fireworks being set up? Kara shook her head and rolled onto her back.

She wrapped herself up in her cape and hugged tightly. This all started with stupid Jack and his stupid charming smile and his stupid dapper accent.

Kara wasn’t even really sure why he irritated her so much. She supposed that really if it did turn out he just was that nice then maybe he was perfect for Lena.

Lena was perfect. She was just the right combination of brains and beauty, just the right mix of boardroom elegance and sexy casual… _Sexy?_ Kara shook her head. And Lena had been so battered and bruised by the people that should have loved her most. She needed someone who would truly care for her, protect her and love her. Lena deserved a good person.

Jack was probably a good guy if she could just give him a chance. So why did she feel so rotten about the idea of Lena dating Jack? She was beyond being able to describe her feelings on the matter any further than “icky”.

Jack was tall and handsome. He was successful in his own right, he obviously wasn’t after Lena’s money. If everything Lena had told Kara about his benevolent endeavours was true… He was a good guy and Lena deserved a good guy. But no matter how hard Kara tried she couldn’t feel happy for Lena.

Her crinkle was out in full force. Her inner turmoil was manifesting itself in greater and greater strength waiting to burst free in realisation. She tightened the cape around her, unaware of her surroundings.

*BANG!*

‘Oh my God!’ Kara at last exclaimed, too distracted by her revelations to pay any attention to the firework exploding over her shoulder.

*BANG! BANG!*

More rockets shot up, lighting the sky around her in flashes of reds and blues. A crackling display of light and sound signifying the beginning of a lifelong commitment. She was completely surrounded by vibrancy and excitement as the song in her mind lifted to full power. The colours flashed across her awestruck face and she gulped in nervous confusion.

‘I’m in love with Lena…’

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_

_No shit!_

_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_


End file.
